ABSTRACT
The exclusion appeal panels were first introduced in 1987 but their origins lie in the Education Act 1980, which established education appeal committees (EACs) to hear appeals in school admission cases. The Education (No. 2) Act 1986 extended the jurisdiction of EACs to include appeals in cases of permanent exclusion from school. The committees had already become responsible for certain categories of appeal under the Education Act 1981 concerning the education of children with special educational needs, but this jurisdiction ended with the establishment of the Special Educational Needs Tribunal in 1994 (see Harris 1997). Although the two surviving jurisdictional areas (admissions and exclusions) are quite different, there are common issues concerning the selection, make-up and training of the panels. This chapter, therefore, draws on evidence about the committees as a whole. However, it also contains the findings of the research into matters relating specifically to the exclusion appeals panels.
