Which children and young people are excluded from school? Findings from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) (original) (raw)
Related papers
Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 2020
Background: As the prevalence of childhood mental health conditions varies by age and gender, we explored whether there were similar variations in the relationship between psychopathology and exclusion from school in a prospective UK population-based birth cohort. Method: The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children collected reports of exclusion at 8 years and 16 years. Mental health was assessed at repeated time points using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Results: Using adjusted linear mixed effects models, we detected a nonlinear interaction between exclusion and age related to poor mental health for boys [adjusted coefficient 1.13 (95% confidence interval 0.55-1.71)] excluded by age 8, but not for girls. The SDQ scores of boys who were excluded in primary school were higher than their peers from age 3, and increasingly diverged over time. As teenagers, these interactions appeared for both genders [boys' adjusted coefficient 0.18 (0.10-0.27); girls 0.29 (0.17-0.40)]. For teenage girls, exclusion by 16 was followed by deteriorating mental health. Family adversity predicted exclusion in all analyses. Conclusion: Prompt access to effective intervention for children in poor mental health may improve both mental health and access to education. Key Practitioner Message • Children who were subsequently excluded from school often faced family adversity and had poor mental health, which suggests the need for an interdisciplinary response and a multiagency approach. • Poor mental health may contribute to and result from exclusion from school, so both mental health and education practitioners have a key role to play. • Boys who enter school with poor mental health are at high risk of exclusion in primary school, which prompt assessment and intervention may prevent. • Both boys and girls who are excluded between the ages of 15 and 16 years may have poor, and in the case of girls, deteriorating, mental health.
A Quantitative Longitudinal Analysis of Exclusions from English Secondary Schools
Exclusion from school is widely used as a disciplinary tool, but there is concern that it might be applied disproportionately to certain groups of students. Student, family, neighbourhood and school characteristics all relate individually to differences in rates of exclusion but most studies (predominantly in the US) have focussed on a small subset of potential explanatory variables, have not used nationally representative data or have been limited to exclusions at one period of time. in contrast we examine the relationship between exclusion from school and a wide range of variables, using data for a whole cohort of over 500,000 students in England between their entry into secondary education at age 11 and the end of their compulsory education at age 16. We find that 16.3% of all students experience one or more fixed term exclusions (FTE) during their five years of secondary schooling, but that this rises to over 30% for Black Caribbean and Mixed White & Black Caribbean students. The probability of experiencing one or more FTE is strongly related to gender, ethnicity, poverty (as indicated by entitlement to a Free School Meal and by local neighbourhood deprivation), scores in national attainment tests (particularly English) at age 11 and early patterns of attendance in Year 7. The relationship between ethnicity and the odds of experiencing one or more FTE remains large and significant even after controlling for all these other variables. Among those who experience at least one FTE, 56% go on to experience a second or further FTE, but 44% do not. Despite their greatly increased risk of experiencing the first exclusion, conditional on this Black Caribbean and Mixed Black & Caribbean students are no more likely to experience repeated FTEs than White British students. Experience of FTE is the predominant predictor of permanent exclusion but higher rates of permanent exclusion, especially of students from deprived neighbourhoods and certain ethnic groups, are not fully accounted for by previous FTEs. In multi-level regression models the school (20%) and the Local Authority (6%) levels account for significant variation in rates of FTE and very little of this is explained by school characteristics (though schools serving a higher proportion of students from poor families were less likely to exclude, after controlling for the higher risk of exclusion for individual students). We conclude that the drivers of differential rates of exclusion may have significant socio-cultural and school policy dimensions. This robust analysis of nationally representative data establishes a rationale and focus for more qualitative investigations of the role played by family, neighbourhood and school in determining rates of exclusion and the need for further evidence about reasons for variation in rates of exclusion at the school level.
Not in the classroom, but still on the register: hidden forms of school exclusion
International Journal of Inclusive Education, 2018
Not in the classroom, but still on the register: Hidden forms of school exclusion There has been growing concern about the rising numbers of students being excluded from school in Englanda trend that is often set against the declining levels of exclusion elsewhere. In Wales and Scotland, for example, numbers of students permanently excluded from school have fallen dramatically. However, we argue that simple system-level comparisons might be misleading. Drawing on data derived from interviews with headteachers in Wales, this paper probes beneath the surface of official statistics and explores the diverse, and often hidden, forms of exclusion that are taking place. Without wishing to deny the damaging consequences of official exclusion from school, it argues that the other forms of exclusion may also carry negative consequences. It concludes that until the effects of these other forms of exclusion are knownat individual, institutional and system levelwe should not assume that a school or a syste is e essarily a y ore or less i lusive o the asis of offi ial data o s hool exclusions.
Background: There is a need for causally stronger research on the association between child mental health and school exclusion and truancy. This study examines school exclusion and truancy in relation to both conduct and emotional problems and considers these problems both as predictors and as outcomes of school exclusion and truancy. Method: The sample included 15,236 individuals from the Millennium Cohort Study, a UK longitudinal birth cohort study. Conduct and emotional problems were assessed from childhood to adolescence (age 7, 11, 14 and 17 years), and reports of school exclusion and truancy were collected at age 11 and 14. Fixed effect analyses were used. Results: Increases in conduct problems and emotional symptoms were associated with subsequent exclusion (OR 1.22, [95% CI 1.08-1.37] and OR 1.16, [1.05-1.29], respectively). Emotional symptoms, but not conduct problems, predicted truancy (OR 1.17, [1.07-1.29]). These estimates were similar for males and females. Exclusion was associated with an increase in conduct problems at age 14 (0.50, [0.30-0.69]), and for males, it was associated with an increase in emotional symptoms both at age 14 (0.39, [0.12-0.65]) and 17 (0.43, [0.14-0.72]). Truancy was associated with an increase in conduct problems at age 14 (0.41, [0.28-0.55]), and for females also at age 17 (0.22, [0.03-0.42]), and it was associated with increased emotional symptoms at age 14 (0.43, [0.25-0.62]) and 17 (0.44, [0.21-0.66]), which was similar for males and females. Conclusion: Results indicate a bidirectional association between emotional symptoms and school exclusion and truancy, as an increase in these symptoms was associated with later truancy and exclusion, and emotional symptoms increased following both school events. For conduct problems, the association was bidirectional for school exclusion, but unidirectional for truancy as these symptoms did not lead to truancy, but an increase in conduct problems was observed after both exclusion and truancy. Key Practitioner Message • Previous examinations have found child and adolescent mental health as having a bidirectional or reciprocal association with school exclusion and truancy. However, these studies have taken a broad approach to mental health and not distinguished between conduct problems and emotional problems specifically. • In this study, emotional symptoms are shown to have a bidirectional association with truancy and exclusion. For conduct problems the association is bidirectional for exclusion, but unidirectional for truancy as these problems do not appear to precede truancy but can be a consequence of truancy. • Addressing truancy and exclusion would require different interventions for emotional and conduct problems. • School exclusion and truancy may lead to a deterioration in mental health in terms of both conduct problems and emotional symptoms. • Interventions that prevent school exclusion and truancy, such as evidence-based school-wide interventions, might prevent mental health problems in children and adolescents.