Today’s Education in the Media blog looks at a new report by children’s charity Barnardo’s, as well as the new budget announced yesterday by the Chancellor.
Barnardo’s Report
Today, Tuesday 30 October, Barnardo’s released a report on the link between excluded pupils and violent crime. This has been covered by BBC News and the Daily Mail.
We recently published two research reports into alternative provision, as well as our response to the Education Select Committee’s report on the same topic. The Education Secretary Damian Hinds also attended a roundtable hosted by the Centre for Social Justice to discuss alternative provision earlier this month.
There is currently an exclusions review being conducted by Edward Timpson, which looks at the deeper lying issues surrounding exclusions and the patterns being seen.
We are clear that exclusions should only be used as a last resort to tackling misbehaviour.
A Government spokesperson said:
We want every child to receive an education that fosters ambition and builds confidence in their abilities so they can have the opportunity to fulfil their potential. Permanently excluding a child from mainstream school should only ever be a last resort, and we support teachers in making these difficult decisions where they are justified.
While it is not clear what role exclusions plays in crime, it is vital that young people who are excluded from school still engage with high-quality education. But we need to be just as ambitious for pupils in alternative provision as we are for those in mainstream schools.
That’s why, alongside the review of exclusions led by Edward Timpson, we are transforming alternative provision to improve outcomes for these children which helps them to flourish, backed by our £4 million innovation fund that has created nine new projects around the country.
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