The Journey to Permanent School Exclusion in Surrey

Reducing school exclusions and promoting inclusion is linked to broader social issues that reflect the state of society.

Project Overview

There are many factors that contribute to children and young people being temporarily or permanently excluded from school, not least systemic challenges to practice and equity of access to educational opportunity and support. Children and young people permanently excluded from school have poorer life opportunities than their in-school counterparts. This is reflected in factors that make some children and young people vulnerable to exclusion (e.g. experience of adversity in childhood, contact with care services) and also vulnerabilities as a consequence of exclusion (e.g. increased vulnerability to exploitation, criminal behaviour). Therefore, reducing school exclusions and promoting inclusion is linked to broader social issues that reflect the state of society.

This research focuses on children and young people permanently excluded from school in Surrey. Although Surrey has fewer permanent school exclusions than the national average, and low overall deprivation, there are areas of high deprivation sitting beside high wealth. The educational attainment gap between multiply disadvantaged children and young people in Surrey and their non-disadvantaged counterparts is higher than the national average, and this highlights the need to understand how children and young people might best be supported to stay in full-time education.

The research will make recommendations for how systems and services might work together to support school inclusion and the right of all young people to education. The work sits in a national context of awareness of disadvantage to children and young people who do not have access to education, as a consequence of national lockdown in a global pandemic.

Aims & Duration

The project aims to identify good practice in supporting school inclusion and managing exclusions. The project started in April 2020 and concludes in September 2021.

Structure

There are five strands to the work:

The first is a review of evidence-based or best practice in supporting school inclusion and managing exclusions.
The second strand sets out the scope and nature of the issues of exclusion in Surrey, through examination of the characteristics of children and young people who were permanently excluded from school over a two year period in the county, and the support available to them.
The third strand involves a series of interviews with professional educational stakeholders, focused on barriers and facilitators to best practice in managing permanent exclusions in Surrey.
The fourth strand includes the voices of parents/caregivers and young people in Surrey who have experienced permanent exclusion.
The fifth and final strand pulls together conclusions on the factors that put children and young people at risk of exclusions, and the actions, interventions and collaborations that support continued engagement in full-time education. This strand will include recommendations for changes to policy and practice in Surrey that are most likely to reduce the numbers of children and young people missing out on full-time education.

Dissemination Activities

Initial findings will be presented at the end of June 2021 at a County-wide event convened by the High Sheriff of Surrey 2021-22, Dr Julie Llewelyn.

The final report will be published in September 2021.

The research team will then take forward key findings of the work for publication in academic journals and conferences.

Research Team

The project is led by Dr Emily Glorney (Senior Lecturer in Forensic Psychology, Department of Law and Criminology). The research assistant is Natasha Rhoden in the Department of Law and Criminology. The co-investigator is Professor Frank Keating, Professor of Social Work and Mental Health.