SEN pupils are six times more likely to be excluded from school
Children who have a statement of special educational needs are significantly more likely to be excluded from school than those without, latest government figures have revealed.
The statistics from the Department for Education show that 8.2 per cent of pupils in England with a SEN statement were excluded during the 2011/12 school year, compared with 1.4 per cent of their peers.
Exclusions were also much more common among children in receipt of lower-tier SEN support, with 9.5 per cent of those with School Action Plus status and 4.6 per cent of those with School Action status excluded over the course of the year.
The most common factors for excluding a pupil with SEN were physical assaults on adults and persistent disruptive behaviour.
However, SEN pupils were far less likely than their peers to be excluded for bullying, theft, drug and alcohol-related reasons, sexual misconduct or physical assaults on pupils.
The figures also reveal stark disparities across the country, with Wokingham and Telford & Wrekin councils having the worst records for excluding pupils with a statement of special educational needs.
Out of Wokingham’s 680 pupils with a SEN statement, 13.1 per cent had received at least one fixed-term exclusion in 2011/2012. In Telford & Wrekin, 13 per cent of its 960 pupils with a SEN statement were excluded.
Other council areas among the most likely to exclude pupils that have a SEN statement are Sandwell, where 12.8 per cent received an exclusion at least once, and Derbyshire, where 12.7 per cent were excluded.
At the other end of the scale was Havering, where just 3.3 per cent its 545 pupils with a SEN statement received a fixed-term exclusion.
These figures have been released as part of a wider DfE report, Children with Special Educational Needs: An Analysis 2013.
Among SEN pupils with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties, a quarter (24.6 per cent) were excluded at least once during the school year. Just 0.4 per cent of those with profound or multiple learning difficulties were dealt with in this way.
Kate Fallon, general secretary of the Association of Educational Psychologists, said: “These figures indicate that some teachers and staff are not used to dealing with pupils with behavioural or emotional difficulties. In that case, a whole-school approach to training may be needed.”
She pointed out that the figures also indicate schools are far more willing to exclude a pupil for assaulting an adult rather than another pupil.
“When a teacher is assaulted, it places a fear on them and an anxiety about their own skills. Exclusion is some schools’ way of managing that,” she says.
SEN pupils were also more likely to be excluded permanently than their peers, the figures show. While 0.5 per cent of pupils with School Action Plus status were permanently excluded, this happened to only 0.1 per cent of those with no special educational needs.
A Telford & Wrekin Council spokesman said: “We have recently carried out a comprehensive review of our Behaviour Strategy and we are confident that this will lead to fewer pupils from all categories being excluded from schools in the borough.”
Source: CYPNow
