Children's rights, school exclusion and alternative educational provision

Abstract

This paper examines findings from a recent study in Wales of school exclusion and alternative educational provision. Many, but not all, children in alternative provision have been excluded from school. The most recent statistics reveal that nearly 90% of pupils in alternative provision have special educational needs, nearly 70% are entitled to free school meals (free school meal entitlement is often used as a proxy indicator for poverty in the UK) and three quarters are boys (Welsh Government. 2012a. Pupils Educated Other than at School, 2011/12. Cardiff: Welsh Government). The paper focuses on analysis of findings about young people's experiences of exclusion and alternative provision, and how these experiences may be contextualised within a discussion of children's rights. This analysis suggests that young people's experience is highly variable; that inappropriate curricula are still common, pastoral support uneven and that few opportunities exist for success or re-integration. In the most disturbing examples, young people were found to have experienced physical restraint and the use of isolation as punishment. The paper concludes, therefore, with a proposal for change aimed at ensuring that children's rights are placed at the heart of educational experience in practice as well as policy.

Keywords:

• exclusion
• alternative provision
• children's rights

Notes on contributors

Dr Gillean McCluskey is Head of Institute of Education, Community and Society in the Moray House School of Education, University of Edinburgh.

Professor Sheila Riddell is Director of the Centre for Research in Education, Inclusion and Diversity, Moray House School of Education, University of Edinburgh.

Dr Elisabet Weedon is Depute Director of the Centre for Research in Education, Inclusion and Diversity, Moray House School of Education, University of Edinburgh.

Notes

1. One local authority did not respond to requests to participate.