Education Secretary threatens action on school exclusions
The Department for Education has published research into Alternative Provision (AP) following concerns about poor levels of attainment in AP and rising exclusions in some areas.
The key findings of the report were:
Parents
- Many parents felt their school could have done more to keep the pupil in mainstream education, and before the referral to AP many would have preferred this.
- In cases of permanent exclusion, parents voiced concern about the lack of information on what this might mean for their child in terms of post -16 pathways and longer term implications.
- Parents responded better when given ‘taster days’ of the alternative provision, and many then preferred the smaller class sizes and specialist support available once their child had moved over.
- Despite this anxiety prior to starting AP, once children were settled into their placements, parents usually felt their child benefited from the smaller class sizes, fresh start, and more personalised support.
Schools
- It was common among schools that had not used Alternative Provision to say they had consistent approaches in place to manage behaviour, which had prevented the need for them to make any referrals.
- AP providers reported that teacher recruitment was a more pressing concern for them than retention, with more of them experiencing recruitment difficulties than difficulties retaining staff, once appointed. The issue was not a lack of applicants but rather the challenge of finding someone suitable for the job.
- Difficulty finding mainstream schools willing or able to take on pupils from AP was a particular challenge for pupils that had been permanently excluded, and in rural areas with fewer local mainstream schools.
- The research found many alternative providers are worried schools are incentivised to permanently exclude their pupils rather than give them fixed-term exclusions, as then the local authority rather than school will be forced to fund the pupil’s education.
- Over half of secondary schools the researchers spoke to used internal inclusion units to support pupils at risk of exclusion, whereas only a minority of primary schools did. This approach was also more likely to be used by mainstream schools, particularly academies.
Education Secretary Damian Hinds confirmed yesterday that the Government is not ruling out legislation to make schools more accountable for the children they place in Alternative Provision, saying that a legal mechanism to hold schools to account for permanently excluded pupils is “not off the table”.
Read the full report here.