Schools could be required to record internal exclusions under new guidance that will encourage headteachers to only send pupils home for the most serious cases of poor behaviour and violence.
The Department for Education has said it will “seek views on the appropriate requirements for recording and reporting” internal exclusions, to “ensure consistent practice, transparency and effective oversight”.
But it confirmed it will not set targets for schools on the use of internal exclusion, after announcing it will bring forward a new national framework as part of the upcoming white paper.
The guidance will encourage schools to keep more pupils on-site rather than sending them home, which education secretary Bridget Phillipson warned can result in pupils “retreating to social media, gaming and the online world instead of serving their punishment”.
Government does not currently collect data from schools on the use of what it calls “internal suspensions”, usually referred to as internal exclusions or isolation.
But a Schools Week investigation recently revealed for the first time the widespread use of internal exclusions, with secondary schools that use the practice isolating almost a fifth of pupils from their classmates at least once each year.
Parents of children who were internally excluded said their children felt “imprisoned” and became “selectively mute”.
Ensure ‘effective oversight’
Schools Week revealed last year that schools will face a legal duty to record their use of seclusion, the removal of children from classrooms to somewhere else in school for non-disciplinary reasons.
But no such duty was planned for internal exclusion, the removal of a child from their class as punishment for poor behaviour.
The DfE said last week the use of the practice is currently “informal and inconsistently applied”.
Pupils can sometimes be set “generic work that does not support learning or reintegration” when they were internally suspended, but internal suspension should be a short, structured intervention with meaningful learning and time for reflection”.
The new guidance will also outline the definitions of exclusion, the DfE said.
Internal exclusion ‘not a replacement’
The DfE has insisted internal exclusion is “not a replacement” for external suspensions, with headteachers retaining autonomy over decision making.
While internal exclusion “may be used where behaviour is disruptive or escalating but does not meet the threshold for sending a pupil home”, external suspensions would still be necessary for “the most serious and violent behaviour”.
The DfE has also been asked whether it will seek to change the legal definition of suspensions, amid questions about how its new policy would work.
At present, suspended pupils are not legally allowed out in public without “good reason”.
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