ABSTRACT
In 1998 the British government published its report Truancy and School Exclusion which made explicit the direct link between exclusion from school and longer-term social exclusion. In this report the government set itself a ‘tough but achievable’ target of a one-third reduction in the levels of both truancy and permanent and fixedterm disciplinary exclusions by 2002 (Social Exclusion Unit (SEU), 1998: 2). The report placed considerable emphasis on the relationship between truancy, exclusion and school failure, resulting in a subsequent lack of qualifications and unemployment. Although the report warned about the dangers of young people engaging in crime, the overall emphasis was on young people in difficulties, rather than on young people as the difficulty. The report acknowledged research which demonstrates wide variations in truancy and exclusion rates between schools whose populations experience similar socioeconomic circumstances (OFSTED, 1996; DfEE, 1997; Osler, 1997a). It also recognised that some students were being excluded for minor incidents, which were never intended as grounds for exclusion, and that some others were excluded for more serious incidents which might be avoided or dealt with in other ways by schools. The message was clear – schools should not use exclusion or condone truancy as a routine means of coping with disaffected or failing students:
Truancy and exclusions have reached crisis point. Thousands of children who are not in school on most schooldays have become a significant cause of crime. Many of today’s non-attenders are in danger of becoming tomorrow’s criminals and unemployed.
