Mapping folk devils old and new through permanent exclusion from London schools

ABSTRACT

The process of permanent exclusion from school offers a heightened example of the rejections necessary to keep the English neoliberal education treadmill running. This extreme end of education’s disciplinary apparatus illuminates trends less immediately legible across the system, namely how securitization and neoliberal governance heighten inequalities. Unpicking the dynamics at work behind exclusion shows how racialization and marginalization are not reduced but reproduced through this educational format. This paper maps how securitization and neoliberal governance work together through permanent exclusion to reproduce racialized folk devils old and new, drawing on discourses of criminal blackness as well as the radicalized Islamic terrorist. It will also explore how exclusion policy is negotiated and translated into daily practice by exploring parental accounts of their child’s permanent exclusion alongside the narratives of head teachers in London.

KEYWORDS:

• Permanent exclusion
• securitization
• neoliberalism
• racism
• Islamophobia
• gender

Acknowledgements

Thank you to my colleagues at the NYLUM postgraduate group for their helpful feedback on the initial draft.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Frequently used as a marker of poverty due to students’ eligibility being linked to parent income.

2. The permanent exclusion is removed from their record, but practically stands.

3. Black and minority ethnicity.

4. Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills.

5. General Certificate of Secondary Education.

Additional information

Funding

This research was carried out for Communities Empowerment Network through a grant provided by the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation.