Schools not up to the job of finding places for excluded pupils, warns academic
Most schools are not in the “best position” to find alternative provision for their excluded pupils, a leading academic has warned.
David Berridge, a professor of child and family welfare at the University of Bristol, told MPs this week that it was difficult for individual schools to know about the “range of resources” available and avoid providers who are “in it for the wrong reasons”.
He was giving evidence to the parliamentary education committee’s inquiry into Alternative Provision, called as a result of concerns about large variations in the quality and availability of provision for pupils outside mainstream schools.
A series of recent investigations by Schools Week found pupils face a postcode lottery for well-funded alternative provision schools, and may be being pushed out of schools for the wrong reasons.
Berridge warned that some schools may not be approaching other provision “with their eyes open”.
Read more on Schools Week.