Pupils who have been excluded from school are being ‘failed’ by the education system, MPs warn.
A new report from the Education Committee argues that excluded pupils are being ‘abandoned to a forgotten part of the education system—alternative provision’.
The committee found that frequently the children who are excluded are those who already face a ‘host of challenges’. They are often in care or have special educational needs or come from a poor background.
The committee chair Robert Halfon MP warned that these children are going on to receive inadequate alternative provision (AP), that is, the education arranged by the local authority outside of the education system.
‘Parents and pupils face a system which isn’t designed for their needs, too often being left to a Wild West of exclusions with too many pupils in AP who shouldn’t be there, and those who are there not receiving the right support or the early intervention needed to make a difference to their lives,’ he said.
Mr Halfon called for the creation of a Bill of Rights that provide pupils and parents with information on their rights once a pupil has been expelled from school.
Responding to the committee’s report, school standards minister Nick Gibb said: ‘The number of children being excluded is lower than it was ten years ago but exclusions should only ever be used as a last resort.
‘The rules are clear that they should always be reasonable and justified. Where pupils are excluded the quality of education they receive should be no different than mainstream settings.
‘We are taking a range of actions to drive up the quality of alternative provision, and have launched an external review to look at how exclusions are used and why certain groups are disproportionally affected.’
