Understanding the Causes and Consequences of School Exclusions. Teachers, Parents and Schools’ Perspectives

1.

This is a book not only about school exclusions. It examines the scale of the problem which has wider implications for educational inequality both in England and internationally (Demie, 2019, 2021, 2023). The author has gathered empirical data which analyses the experiences of schools, teachers, parents and governors in England and includes a focus on both Black and minority ethnic students and those with special educational needs and disabilities. The author spent two years collecting data in their role as Head of Research in the London Borough of Lambeth.

Demie highlights the contemporary terminology of exclusion and how schools use these methods with children with learning and behavioural issues. Fixed term, informal, internal exclusions, ‘off-rolling’ and permanent exclusions seem a long way from the simpler suspension and expulsion that once monopolised primary and secondary terminology. This book demonstrates that exclusion issues are at the front of public and educational policy debates in England (1). It also examines why school exclusion rates have risen within quasi-market conditions and the fragmentation of the education system in England. The ‘off-rolling’ approach forces children to be excluded to improve a school’s performance in terms of their position in school league tables or to relieve financial pressures on schools (21). Austerity and funding cuts have also led to a rise in school exclusions. One of the many strengths of this book is the primary data collected from teachers, school staff and parents which gives voice to their experiences of school exclusions. Demie highlights the factors of ethnic and special educational needs which are disproportionate within school exclusions. This domestic picture of disproportionality is compared internationally. For example, in the USA, African Americans and Latino students are negatively affected by exclusions in comparison to Whites and there is a racial bias and lower expectations of African Americans and Latinos on the part of many teachers (115).

The author’s conclusions are important to underline. The need to case study individual schools that have successfully tackled school exclusions is as or more important than highlighting a general or national picture. Strong school leadership, developing teachers through continuing professional development, appointing a more culturally diverse workforce, and providing excellent care and guidance of pupils and parents rather than seeing both as a problem are areas for policy and practical development. Demie’s research shows preventing school exclusions is based around building relationships between students and teachers or school staff with effective use of targeted interventions and support through one-to-one support, small groups and pastoral care (131). Internationally, the evidence suggests that good practice in these areas goes beyond behaviour management within schools. Demie ends the book with a call for the re-examination of policy and practice in local and national contexts. The implications for education research in Demie’s work are threefold. Firstly, more research is needed to address the gaps in knowledge about the extent, causes, and consequences of school exclusions; secondly, the need for additional studies using ethnographic longitudinal studies and approaches from different studies and thirdly, a coordinated response is needed to reduce the number of pupil exclusions from schools while including more teacher perspectives in more empirical studies (145–146). The importance of this book is that the issues that Demie engages with, for example off-rolling, are hugely on the rise as are other aspects of social exclusions (CSJ, 2024). Demie offers solutions to this rising crisis within our schools and must be commended for adding to an evolving and ongoing empirically based education research. Their work on school exclusions deepens our understanding of both social and cultural factors which could make school environments better for both students and teachers (Gorard et al., 2023).