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For more information on school attendance, including targets, strategies to improve attendance and parental responsibility from the Department for Children, Schools and Families, visit www.dfes.gov.uk/schoolattendance/ or www.parentscentre.gov.uk/educationandlearning/rightsandresponsibilities/
Restorative justice
In 2002, the TES reported that persuading wrong-doers to confront their victims and agree
with them how to make amends had produced striking improvements
in behaviour in two challenging London schools. A six-month pilot scheme in Hammersmith and Fulham used
the principles of 'restorative justice' and led to 90 agreements
between pupils or groups of pupils and the avoidance of 60
exclusions. Significantly, the behaviour - such as robbery, bullying
or violence that gave rise to the meeting between perpetrator
and victim - has hardly ever been repeated.
The schools refer any conflict between pupils to Helen Mahaffey,
a member of the local youth offending team, who is also a
learning mentor. The pupils involved are invited to attend
a meeting, where they draw up an agreement. The pupils are
usually offered the meeting as an alternative to a suspension,
or it may shorten the term of exclusion. Explaining the scheme's success, Ms Mahaffey says: "This
is voluntary. It has to come from the pupils. So often discipline
is something done to them."
For more information on restorative justice, visit www.restorativejustice.org.uk/ or www.homeoffice.gov.uk/crime-victims/victims/restorative-justice/
Education business partnershipsIn 2000, the Guardian reported that for over 100 Merseyside teenagers, their last year of schooling involves work-based training, taster courses at the local further education college, personal development courses plus one or two days at school. The course is run by Knowsley Compact, a charity set up to promote education business partnerships locally. Permanent exclusions have been reduced to zero in all secondary schools in the borough, because of Knowsley's early intervention approach. This can take the form of educational support units, where pupils at risk of exclusion can be supported until they are ready to return to mainstream schooling or a radically alternative diet of work, training and support. Students on the programme are disapplied from the national curriculum, which involves dropping two of their eight subjects. The National Foundation for Educational Research has published several studies in this area.
Local authority and voluntary sector partnership project
In 2002 the Guardian reported on crime reduction charity Nacro's flagship project Moves, in
Shropshire, which helps children whose challenging behaviour and
related learning difficulties have ruled out mainstream education.
The project is funded by the local education authority and
schools that have excluded pupils. It had 10 full-time users attending daily, plus another 10
who use it on a part-time basis. They can study for NVQs,
literacy and numeracy qualifications and various youth achievement
awards. Most of the project's users are male and half of them
have committed a criminal offence. Centre manager Lisa-Jane
Woolley said: "I'd say in 90% of cases, abuse, divorce or
death have played a part in a pupil's exclusion." Moves employs
workers rather than teachers but all five staff are well versed
in cognitive behavioural psychology. Visit Nacro at www.nacro.org.uk
Emotional coaching for boys
In 2001, the TES reported on a three-year alternatives to exclusion project in Glasgow. It found that boys' inability to express their feelings may be the root
cause of unacceptable behaviour and can lead to lower attainment. Teachers discovered significant improvements in behaviour
after working closely with young primary children and their
families on positive social and communication skills. Pupils
and parents welcomed the intervention. Boys were counselled in how to manage emotions
such as anger and frustration and advised to stop and consider
options before they acted. A key aspect was a "reciprocal skills building programme",
involving pupils, families and teachers, which emphasised
skills children already had and others they needed.
Excellence in Cities
In 1999 the Government set up the £350 million Excellence in Cities (EiC) initiative: a network of specialist units in deprived areas aimed
at guiding disruptive pupils back into mainstream education.
Parents were enlisted in order to motivate disaffected
children as part of the scheme and the Government spent £22 million
setting up learning support units for disaffected youngsters.
EiC takes pupils from several schools, and offers them
short term individual support. The aim is to minimise the
disruption caused by these children without excluding them
from school and to get them back to the mainstream as quickly
as possible. Read more on the EiC sheme
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