Learning from Lived Experiences of Exclusion from School

School exclusion, whether permeant or fixed-term, is argued to be an essential behaviour management tool for schools, necessary to establish and maintain high standards of behaviour for learning as well as the safety of school communities. For the excluded students themselves, subsequent impact is likely to be significant, extensive and enduring. Excluded students are more likely to experience academic underachievement, social isolation, mental health problems, involvement in crime and violence, and reduced employment prospects. Moreover, school exclusion disproportionately affects students all too often subject to marginalisation, that is those from disadvantaged backgrounds, certain ethnic minorities, and those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), exacerbating educational inequalities and social exclusion.
Despite these impending, grave consequences of school exclusion, investigation of students’ experiences of such exclusion, remains under-researched. Existing research tends to focus on the causes and outcomes of exclusion, rather than the lived-experiences and perspectives of the students themselves. Hence, there is a need for further rich, qualitative research that captures the diversity, complexity and messiness of the experiences of excluded students.
Our research aims to fill this gap, through researchers working alongside staff at a Local Authority and a Pupil Referral Unit, and the students themselves. This research into the experiences of students excluded from school, explores their nuanced feelings, thoughts, actions, relationships, struggles, successes, and hopes before, during, and after their exclusion. We also explore factors that facilitate or hinder these students’ re-engagement with education and the wider-community, and their suggestions for improving the support available to them.