Understanding The Causes And Consequences Of School Exclusions

This book outlines a study of the causes and consequences of school exclusions. It explores the experiences of schools, teachers, parents, and governors and includes a focus on the experience of Black and minority ethnic students and those with special educational needs and disabilities. The book presents the results of detailed empirical research from English schools that studied teachers, school leaders, parents, governors, educational psychologists, and school staff experience with school exclusions. The book examines the scale of the problem and underlying factors, the disproportionality of exclusions for SEND and minority ethnic students, comparative international literature on exclusions and implications for policy, practice, and research. Providing a comprehensive overview of the factors affecting school exclusions, the book will be of great interest to researchers, academics, and students in the areas of education policy, inclusion and special education needs in education. It will also be of interest to policy makers and education professionals including special educational needs co-ordinators and headteachers.

Exploring Social Justice in Practice in Education focuses on the tensions and challenges to issues of fairness and social and cognitive justice in the sphere of education. The terms ‘fairness’ and ‘social and cognitive justice’ are often used to justify particular policies and practices in the sphere of education. In providing a clear definition of what they should mean in practice, this book includes a discussion of, and, in some cases, potential resolutions to, tensions and challenges in relation to notions of fairness, and social and cognitive justice that are implicit within individuals’ lived experiences across all phases of education. Through their personal narratives, the authors illustrate how such tensions and challenges have played out in their own lives. They go on to explore differences in interpretations and consequent challenges in putting concepts of social justice into practice. Chapters consider important implications across different sectors and phases of education, including special educational needs, leadership and higher education. This insightful volume will enable educators, at all levels, to hear from students, family members, significant adults/carers and professionals, their experiences of fairness and social justice in education, and about what could be done in the future to redress injustices. It will appeal to readers at all levels in education including those studying for or teaching Education-related degrees at bachelors’, masters’ and doctoral levels.

As societies become more diverse, so too must they become more inclusive. In inclusive societies, all members, regardless of their ethnicity, religion, socio-economic status, ability or disability are valued and free to participate, and there is equity of access and reward. Schools have a powerful role to play in creating inclusive societies, and this begins with the notion of inclusive schools - schools were all children belong, where all children have a place, and where difference is a natural part of what it is to be a human being. Based on this understanding, many countries around the world are moving towards more inclusive education systems. However, working against inclusive education are forces of exclusion – factors that act to exclude and marginalize minority students from participation and learning at school. Therefore, in order to progress the principles and practices of inclusive education, an examination of the construct of exclusion is critical. Important questions to be interrogated if inclusive education is to be a reality are: What is exclusion? Why does it occur? How can it be reduced and eliminated? This book critically examines the construct of exclusion, exploring how disabled students experience exclusion both from and within school and suggesting reasons why this occurs. Finally, key foci for change are proposed as platforms for interrogating, reducing and eliminating the forces of exclusion.

This book provides an essential one-stop introduction to the key concepts, issues, policies and practices affecting child welfare, with particular emphasis on the changing nature of the relationship between child welfare and social policy. No other book brings together such a wide selection of material to form an attractive and indispensable teaching and learning resource. Child welfare and social policy provides readers with an historical overview of child welfare in England and Wales; high quality contributions from leading authorities in the field; discursive introductions to each section that set individual chapters in the broader context of childhood studies and case study material to bring discussions to life. Key topics covered include morality and child welfare; relations between law, medicine, social work, social theory and child welfare; children's rights and democratic citizenship and children as raw material for 'social investment'. Child welfare and social policy is invaluable reading for students and academics in social policy, sociology, education and social work. It is also a useful resource for health and social work professionals wishing to follow current debates in theory and practice.

In this groundbreaking study, Linda Cusworth explores the impact of parental employment or unemployment on the educational and emotional well-being of their children. Using theoretical apparatus from Bourdieu and data from the youth survey of the British Household Panel Study, the research in this book analyzes the impact of parental employment on those born between 1978 and 1990. This study is unique in going beyond the educational achievement and later patterns of employment of the young people studied to look at the whole of children's lives, including their attitudes and aspirations, relationships and emotional well-being. The changed norms of maternal employment and the substantial increase in lone parenthood over the last few decades make this an especially important study both for academics in social and public policy and sociology, and for policy makers.

This report synthesizes two approaches to a topical problem: the concern with social deviancy and crime which focuses on failure; and research on educational development which focuses on success. The book explores how environmental experiences (including parenting and bullying) play a role.

Childhood poverty has moved from the periphery to the centre of the policy agenda following New Labour's pledge to end it within twenty years. However, whether the needs and concerns of poor children themselves are being addressed is open to question. The findings raise critical issues for both policy and practice - in particular the finding that children are at great risk of experiencing exclusion within school. School has been a major target in the drive towards reducing child poverty. However, the policy focus has been mainly about literacy standards and exclusion from school. This book shows that poor children are suffering from insufficient access to the economic and material resources necessary for adequate social participation and academic parity. Childhood poverty and social exclusion will be an invaluable teaching aid across a range of academic courses, including social policy, sociology, social work and childhood studies. All those who are interested in developing a more inclusive social and policy framework for understanding childhood issues from a child-centred perspective, including child welfare practitioners and policy makers, will want to read this book. Studies in poverty, inequality and social exclusion series Series Editor: David Gordon, Director, Townsend Centre for International Poverty Research. Poverty, inequality and social exclusion remain the most fundamental problems that humanity faces in the 21st century. This exciting series, published in association with the Townsend Centre for International Poverty Research at the University of Bristol, aims to make cutting-edge poverty related research more widely available. For other titles in this series, please follow the series link from the main catalogue page.

This book offers an accessible and evidence-based approach for professional staff to improve their interactions with vulnerable people. Drawing upon contemporary research from a broad array of disciplines, including psychology, sociology, economics, biology and the neurosciences, it demonstrates how vulnerability and resilience are not fixed personality traits, as is commonly assumed, but rather fluid and dynamic states that result from inhibitory and developmental factors that reside within individuals and their external environments. Each chapter focuses on factors that create vulnerability and those that promote resilience with reference to important subjects, such as child development, epigenetics, trauma, shame, addiction, poverty, emotional intelligence, personality, empathy, compassion and behaviour-change. Attention is given to the role of positive, early life experiences in creating an internal working model of the world that is based on trust, intimacy and hope and how the root causes of vulnerability often lie in the cyclical relationship that exists between child maltreatment, trauma and socially deprived environments that cumulatively act to keep people locked in states of inter-generational poverty. The author explores pressing and important workplace issues, such as occupational stress and burnout, and highlights the urgent need for compassionate systems of management that are functionally equipped to address human error, stress and trauma in complex professional arenas where staff are continually exposed to other peoples’ suffering. The book also demonstrates how strategies and processes which coerce individuals and groups into changing their behaviour are generally counterproductive and it explains how resilient change is invariably supported by strategies that enhance trust, cooperation, personal control and self-efficacy. This book will benefit professional staff, including health, emergency and social services, humanitarian workers, counsellors and therapists, as well as students who want to learn more about the conceptual frameworks that explain vulnerability and resilience.