Alone, the statistics are shocking. A new report from the Centre for Social Justice shows that more primary school children than ever are being permanently excluded from their schools – and the most common reason is physically assaulting a teacher.
The number of primary school children excluded from school last year was 23 per cent higher than the year before, with 281 children aged between five and 11 expelled for physically assaulting an adult – a number that has more than doubled since 2022, and is now even higher than it is for teens in secondary schools.
It is not surprising that headlines are lamenting a 'behaviour crisis' with 'out of control' children becoming increasingly violent and poor parenting skills are often blamed. But the reality is much more complex. Dan Lilley, Head of Youth at the Centre for Social Justice, says that children with special educational needs (SEN) are almost six times more likely to be permanently excluded from school than those without. Considering children with SEN also tend to have complex issues and other challenges, such as a higher likelihood of experiencing trauma, it often means teachers are unable to handle their needs.
That is exactly what happened to Hayley Hudson's son when he was at a mainstream primary school in Sunderland. He was temporarily excluded from school twice when he was five and then six years old, before he was diagnosed with autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). 'The first time he was excluded, he was refusing to go to school,' explains his mother. 'And when we got him into school he tried to escape. It's a funny thing because you don't feel your child needs to be excluded when he's already feeling like he's being excluded.'
Hudson believes the school simply was not able to manage her son's needs, and ultimately excluded him permanently so that he would end up in a different school. 'I think if my child were going to stay in mainstream education and they were able to deal with him and he was able to manage it, then they weren't right to exclude him. But the school recognised my child was not ever going to thrive or become the best version of himself while being in a school with so many children and so much going on. They were saying that if we don't have him excluded, there's no evidence to suggest he would be better off in a different school. That sounds really backwards, but it was the school's only way to help.'
After spending 18 months in a Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) – a type of school that is meant to offer short-term support to children struggling in the mainstream education system so that they can return – Hudson managed to battle with the local authority to place her son in an independent specialist school. Aged 13, he is now thriving at his new school with classes of only eight students, rather than the 30 he was used to at primary school, but he still struggles to maintain a Year 8 standard in all his subjects. 'I've been frustrated and angry and upset for him, education-wise,' says Hudson. 'He's missed out on a lot of key areas where he learns how to learn and be in a classroom environment. Now he gets distracted really easily. For him, he feels like a lot of the time, he's stupid.'
'There were a lot of things that could have been done differently. It all comes down to money and funding. If I hadn't fought for my child, he'd probably still be in a PRU school which is only meant to be a stopgap, not a permanent solution.'
Cathy Wassell, CEO of the Autistic Girls Network, is unsurprised by stories like Hudson's. She believes the biggest issue for children with SEN, such as neurodivergence, is the fact that teachers do not know how to support them. 'If [neurodivergent girls] are excluded, it is very likely because their needs have been unrecognised and unsupported and they are unable to mask anymore, leading to very distressed behaviour which is being misinterpreted by staff, leading to a vicious circle of misunderstanding as the child becomes more and more dysregulated but it feels as if no adult is listening to or understanding them.'
She references an incident where a primary school was close to permanently excluding a boy because he was often angry, particularly when boys were cheating at football on the playground. 'Nobody had sat down with this boy and talked to him about the invisible social rule that society says cheating is OK in the playground but not OK in the classroom or exam,' explains Wassell. 'He was just expected to know this but as an autistic child it's very unlikely he would be able to pick this up on his own.'
'His interactions with school just kept spiralling because misunderstandings like this compounded on each other, but if we expect him to have a neurotypical understanding of society then we at least ought to be able to see the situation from his point of view. These kinds of misunderstandings are happening all over and they are very avoidable with some understanding.'
Not every primary school is guilty of this. Matt* is a senior teacher at a state primary school in Nottinghamshire that has only permanently excluded one child in 10 years. He believes this is down to the fact that the teachers at his school all have at least 10-20 years of experience. 'We're good at our behaviour management,' he explains. 'We're a small school, so the kids can't get away with anything, and we have good relationships with families. It all comes down to having good, positive relationships. We're hyper-inclusive and build in reasonable adjustments for the kids, like this year, I've got ear defenders for any child who wants to wear them.'
But he does stress that in his 27-year teaching career, this has been his hardest yet. 'Nearly a third of my class of 33 pupils either has behavioural challenges or are neurodiverse. Ten years ago we might have had one kid with full-time support. Now it's a third of my class with teaching assistant (TA) support, only three mornings a week. That's a massive change. It feels like being able to manage children's behaviour is more difficult. There is a lack of staff in school and the lack of outside agency support. The funding's just not there.'
Another issue is the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. 'With Covid, school became almost voluntary,' says Matt, who now sees the biggest challenges in Year 3 students who were toddlers during the pandemic. 'Children will turn to you now and say 'I don't want to do that.' Everything's a negotiated choice. It comes down to parenting as well: children not ever being told no is an issue.'
A new Child Development study shows children have been 'set back' by lockdowns, with those who were in reception during March 2020 going on to struggle to regulate their behaviour, stay focused and adapt to new situations.
'This has got much worse since the pandemic,' agrees Lilley, who believes it is also why an increasing number of children are now less 'school ready', with the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) analysis finding 800,000 under-fives are now estimated to be using social media despite links to heightened behavioural problems. 'The proportion of children who turn up to reception not ready for school is just under a third – that makes it very tricky if you're not able to function in the environment to learn good behaviours at school.'
He references data suggesting this is linked to children not being read to at home or engaging in educational activities with parents. But of course, parents are not the only problem. There is also the fact that there is not enough classroom support in challenging situations, not to mention the schooling structure itself.
'The curriculum doesn't help,' Matt points out. 'The system doesn't allow for special arrangements for children with SEN – it's all about getting kids through this hoop to get results which the school is judged on. The pressure then cascades down to everybody.'
Tania Tirraoro, co-director of the Special Needs Jungle, believes that delays in resources and specialist support for schools are part of the reason why exclusions are on the rise. 'Most schools have difficulties in attracting quality TAs or learning support assistants. One per class is not enough now, especially as they can only deal with one child at a time if that child is in distress, and many do not even have that. The government's new SEND proposals will not fix this – they would presumably shoehorn these children into an 'inclusion base' and get them out of the main classroom. Schools are already struggling, I'm not sure who will be staffing them, or backfilling TAs moved to bases.'
While Lilley adds: 'The current system is letting down everyone: the teachers who are fearful of coming into work, the pupils desperate for an education free from disruption, and the children who are excluded when earlier interventions would have put them on the right path. Exclusion is an important protection for teachers and other pupils' education, but the government must now get a grip on the mayhem going on in our classrooms. We need an urgent review of behaviour standards in schools, to reset the relationship between schools and parents, and swift action on SEND reform.'
Parents feel similarly. Karen, a mother based in the North, understands why her son was excluded aged seven, after he destroyed a classroom and tried to run away from school. But she also believes things could have unfolded differently had he been able to access the support and resources he needed.
'Staff wanted to help him, but the school couldn't get the support he needed,' says Karen, whose son is now in a different school with more support. 'We need to make sure children get support earlier. For my son, two years of his education had gone before we started that process. And then they've missed out on their education.'
She echoes calls for more support in schools, but also believes a culture change is needed. 'In work environments, we adjust and accept people around us, whatever their needs. Schools haven't had a big structure change for years? You still have to follow the rules, when not everyone fits the same box. It's no wonder exclusions are still rising.'
*Name has been changed
