School exclusion and educational inclusion of pregnant young women

Abstract

This article analyses the school exclusion and subsequent educational inclusion of pregnant young women participating in a course of antenatal and key skills education at an alternative educational setting. It examines the young women's transitions from ‘failure’ in school to ‘success’ in motherhood and re-engagement with education. This article draws on participant observation- and interview-based research carried out with pregnant young women and staff at an alternative educational setting in London in 2007–2008. The young women's participation in the course represented a severing of past negative experiences in mainstream education, allowing a renewed focus on education alongside a positive maternal identity. The setting represented a form of inclusion, and the young women appreciated the focus on their social and emotional well-being, yet the limited academic provision in some cases continued to reinforce an educational exclusion.

Keywords:

• alternative education
• antenatal education
• school exclusion
• inclusion
• teenage motherhood

Acknowledgement

This study was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (Award number: PTA-031-2006-00238).

Notes

1. Equivalent to General Certificate of Secondary Education [GCSE] (qualification usually taken at age 16) grades D-G.