The rise of ‘unofficial’ exclusions

Formal exclusion is a preventative or punitive sanction whereby a child or young person is removed from an educational setting for reasons connected to misbehaviour or rule breaking. Headteachers in England can lawfully suspend a pupil from school for a fixed period and, in extreme instances, remove them from the school altogether via a permanent exclusion.

Excluded children and young people are often the most vulnerable children and young people. They are twice as likely to be in the care of the state, four times more likely to have grown up in poverty, seven times more likely to have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), and ten times more likely to have recognised mental health problems (Gill, 2017).

Pupils with SEND account for a disproportionate number of suspensions and permanent exclusions. Official data show that rates for both types of exclusion have returned to pre-pandemic levels, with suspension rates around four times greater, and permanent exclusions about five times greater, for pupils with SEND, compared with those without SEND (DfE, 2024a). Separate data indicate exclusions for autistic pupils alone increased by 59 per cent between 2011 and 2016, compared with an overall exclusion rate of 4 per cent over the same period (Ambitious About Autism, 2018).

Schools cannot use formal exclusion procedures to remove pupils for reasons unrelated to breaches of behaviour. Yet in recent years, England has seen the emergence of a shadow system of unofficial exclusion. These