Children's rights, school exclusion and alternative educational provision
- 28 October 2014
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis Ltd in International Journal of Inclusive Education
- Vol. 19 (6), 595-607
- https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2014.961677
Abstract
This paper examines findings from a recent study in Wales of school exclusion and alternative educational provision. Many, but not all, children in alternative provision have been excluded from school. The most recent statistics reveal that nearly 90% of pupils in alternative provision have special educational needs, nearly 70% are entitled to free school meals (free school meal entitlement is often used as a proxy indicator for poverty in the UK) and three quarters are boys (Welsh Government. 2012a. Pupils Educated Other than at School, 2011/12. Cardiff: Welsh Government). The paper focuses on analysis of findings about young people's experiences of exclusion and alternative provision, and how these experiences may be contextualised within a discussion of children's rights. This analysis suggests that young people's experience is highly variable; that inappropriate curricula are still common, pastoral support uneven and that few opportunities exist for success or re-integration. In the most disturbing examples, young people were found to have experienced physical restraint and the use of isolation as punishment. The paper concludes, therefore, with a proposal for change aimed at ensuring that children's rights are placed at the heart of educational experience in practice as well as policy.Keywords
Funding Information
- Welsh Government
This publication has 3 references indexed in Scilit:
- Evaluating the Children's Commissioner for Wales: Report of a Participatory Research StudyThe International Journal of Children’s Rights, 2010
- Welsh Children's Views On Government and ParticipationChildhood, 2009
- Protecting Rights at the Margins of Youth Justice in England and Wales: Intensive Fostering, Custody and Leaving CustodyYouth Justice, 2008