Whitehall sets tough targets on expulsions

LOCAL authorities will have to set tough targets for cutting the number of expulsions under a new government drive, announced yesterday, to improve bad behaviour in schools.

Estelle Morris, the education minister, said that to combat the spiralling numbers of children suspended or expelled, education officers should recruit and work alongside police, social workers and health experts.

Councils will have to publish plans for keeping problem pupils in school, and for dealing with those who have been expelled. Ministers hope to encourage authorities to follow the example of partnership projects involving the different agencies, such as those pioneered in Birmingham and Leeds, which have attempted to head off problems with pupils before they are thrown out of school for good. Ministers also want councils to track expelled pupils' progress and to try to get the children back into mainstream education.

In Leeds, schools operate an early warning system, including a database to monitor truancy and bad behaviour, while in Birmingham, teachers provide mentors for boys at risk of expulsion.

Ms Morris said: "Rising numbers of permanent exclusions are of real concern. There were 12,500 exclusions in 1995-96, an increase of 1,400 over the previous year. We are determined to achieve a reduction in levels of exclusion and truancy."

She added: "There will always be some pupils with behavioural difficulties who will be excluded ... I also expect plans to include clear and effective arrangements for educating these pupils, keeping track of their progress when they are out of school, and reintegrating them into mainstream schools where and when appropriate."

But Nigel de Gruchy, general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers, is not in favour of the move: "The idea is wholly misconceived and entirely inappropriate," he said. "Cases for expulsion should be judged on their merits, not on whether artificial targets will be met.

"This wholly unrealistic attitude to serious pupil indiscipline, if it prevails, will act as a serious deterrent for young people considering teaching as a career."

Local authority leaders warned that expulsions could increase still further if proposed changes to regulations were not reversed. The School Standards Bill removes the right of local authorities to veto expulsions, a change which has prompted anger among council leaders.

Ministers are currently considering amending the Bill to make schools consult local education officers during a 14-day cooling off period before expulsions go ahead.

Graham Lane, education chairman of the Local Government Association, said: "I think this could reduce or certainly stabilise exclusions. If the Government does not adopt the system they will quadruple the exclusions."

Education officers acknowledge that children face an uphill task in getting another school place after they have been expelled. For many the alternative is a few hours a week teaching at home, or a place at a special referral centre.

Local authority leaders say that half a day's home tuition a week can be as expensive as a full-time place at school, while sending a child to a referral centre costs up to pounds 12,000 a year.