Expelled pupils 'to stay out'

More special units are being set up for disruptive pupils

The government is making it clear that head teachers in England must have the right to expel violent or very disruptive pupils.

There should be no doubt in anybody's mind about the rights of head teachers to exclude permanently where necessary

Schools Minister, Jacqui Smith

New guidance says local education authority appeal panels should not normally reinstate a pupil who has been permanently excluded.

Heads had complained that they were being forced to take back violent pupils because local authorities had been set targets for reducing exclusions.

Now the appeal panels are being told that where a head has excluded a pupil, in line with a clear school discipline policy, they should not normally overrule that decision.

The misbehaviour can include open defiance towards teachers or refusal to wear a school uniform, as well as more serious matters.

Drug dealing

Changes to the existing, controversial guidance say that in considering whether to reinstate a pupil, the appeal panel "must consider the impact it may have on other members of the school."

It says the education secretary "would normally regard it as inappropriate" to reinstate pupils expelled for:

• "serious actual or threatened violence" against other pupils or staff
• sexual abuse
• selling illegal drugs
• "persistent and malicious" disruptive behaviour

The new guidance was announced by the Schools Minister, Jacqui Smith, at the annual meeting in Cheltenham of the Professional Association of Teachers (PAT).

But what she announced is only guidance. By law, appeal panels are independent, their decisions are binding on all those involved and ministers cannot tell them what to do.

Is it necessary?

The PAT's general secretary, Kay Driver, said it remained to be seen what would happen in practice.

"We think it is odd that the government is giving independent panels directions on how to operate," she said.

And education authorities say there is a need for a review of schools' decisions.

They say schools vary considerably in their perceptions of what constitutes a serious matter and it is only on appeal that an injustice has been avoided.

Nigel Hunt of Essex County Council said that, in his experience, appeal panels tended to side with schools rather than with the parents of excluded pupils.

"Inevitably when an appeal panel finds in favour of a school it upsets the parent, when it finds in favour of the parent it upsets the school, that's the nature of the decision," he said.

'Sin bins'

The government's intention is that disruptive pupils will be moved to "sin bins" - within the school where appropriate or in another location if a pupil is expelled from the school.

There are still instances of totally unacceptable conduct which are not covered by the guidance

Union leader David Hart

"It is right that parents have some recourse to appeal where their child is excluded, but it is equally important that the needs of all other children at the school are met," Jacqui Smith said.

"There should be no doubt in anybody's mind about the rights of head teachers to exclude permanently where necessary."

The Conservative leader, William Hague, has called for the scrapping of Labour's targets to reduce exclusions.

The Department for Education said the goal of cutting them by a third by 2002 was unaffected by the new announcement. Figures released in May showed that in 1998/99, 10,400 pupils were permanently excluded - 15% fewer than in the previous year.

'Not enough'

It follows a promise of action by the Education Secretary, David Blunkett, made at the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) conference at the start of June, in response to complaints from all the main education unions.

We will trust the teachers instead of issuing controlling diktats from Whitehall

Conservative spokesman Andrew Lansley

The NAHT's general secretary, David Hart, welcomed the new guidelines but said they did not meet all his concerns.

"There are still instances of totally unacceptable conduct which are not covered by the guidance," he said.

These included serious bullying, racial and sexual harassment and stealing or vandalising school property - all of which justified permanent exclusion.

"I shall be going back to the government next week to make further representations on that front," he said.

Russell Clarke of the Secondary Heads Association also welcomed the guidance.

"Heads grappling with the management of difficult pupils have for too long lacked the necessary powers of exclusion," he said.

'Give heads freedom'

"The complications of the statutory advice set out have too often meant that pupils excluded for sound and serious reasons were returned to school to continue to disrupt the education of other children."

But the Shadow cabinet office minister Andrew Lansley said the government's exclusion policy always put the interests of the small minority of disruptive and unruly children first, and the interests of teachers and the majority of well-behaved pupils second.

"We will give heads and governors complete freedom to set standards and rules of discipline in their schools. We will trust the teachers instead of issuing controlling diktats from Whitehall," he said.

The Liberal Democrat education spokesman, Phil Willis, said schools must have the freedom to deal with discipline as they believed appropriate.

"The government has finally acknowledged the adverse affect of its pupil exclusion target," he said.