Why are schools excluding so many vulnerable kids?

Special educational needs get kids in serious trouble

Perhaps one of the most striking things about the experience of the pandemic was how, despite an apparent concern for ‘the vulnerable’, it was the youngest, the oldest and those with the highest levels of need, who suffered the most during lockdown. When it came to the young, it wasn’t just that their schools were closed for long periods, denying them an education. It was also that some of the most vulnerable were put at greater risk of neglect, abuse or worse, as a consequence (as I explored in a previous Substack). 

This same dynamic, of those already suffering some kind of unavoidable ill-fortune being further disadvantaged by ‘the system’, continues to this day. Young people with special educational needs (SENs) - whether that be a learning disability, autism, ADHD or a variety of other conditions - can often experience difficulties that can impact on their behaviour or their ability to cope with the school day. 

For various reasons, from a lack of resources to poor practise, they too often find themselves being punished for something they just can’t help. I’ll put aside what is a complex discussion about increasing diagnoses, and how this group of children relates to those whose problems stem from elsewhere, whether that be a crisis of authority at home or in the school. That can wait for another article. For now, I want to get across the shocking disparities these young people and their families face, when it comes to suspensions and exclusions from school.

First of all, looking at the figures for all children in England. There were 2,097 permanent exclusions and 183,817 suspensions in the Autumn Term of 2021/22. That’s 3 for every 10,000 pupils and 221 for every 10,000 pupils, respectively. As in previous years, the most common reason given for exclusions (31%) and for suspensions (41%) was persistent disruptive behaviour.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, boys were far more likely to be sent home than girls. They were twice as likely to be suspended and nearly four times more likely to be excluded. Those on free school meals - as I have explained previously, a marker for poverty - are four times more likely to be suspended, and seven times as likely to be excluded from school. Rather depressingly, but again not necessarily surprisingly, rates of suspensions and exclusions also increase with age.

What I find most shocking, though, is how these overall figures contrast with those for children with SENs. Whether or not they have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) - entitling them to a higher level of support - they often find themselves on the wrong side of the school gates. Those SEN children with an EHCP experienced the highest rate of suspensions of any group of children, 637 for every 10,000 pupils. Those without an EHCP were close behind at 631. These figures compare with 144 for every 10,000 pupils suspended where they had no SENs. In other words, children with special needs are four times more likely than their peers to be suspended from school. Similary, those with SENs but no EHCP were most likely to be excluded.

So while suspensions and exclusions continue to present a significant problem for schools and for families, it is children with SENs who are suffering the most. As I say, the higher the need or level of vulnerability, the more unjust is the outcome. While there are all sorts of questions to be asked about the way schools do or don’t support these children, and whether the provision is right for them in the first place, this can’t be allowed to go on. 

Why should those children who already face difficulties dealing with the kinds of everyday experiences that their peers are able to deal with, be punished for it? And why is nobody talking about it?