ABSTRACT

A rising number of children are permanently excluded from school each year in England. Children’s experiences of exclusion are underrepresented in the literature, effectively giving prominence to the views and interpretations of researchers. This qualitative study uses semi-structured interviews to explore the ways in which excluded children story their experience of school exclusion (N = 18). Thematic analysis was used to identify trends in the children’s data, integrating key themes to develop an understanding of how children make sense of the exclusion situation. The main findings from this study are that excluded children tend to experience schools as misreading symptoms of social injustice, bullying, and special educational needs as misbehaviour and non-compliance. The children reported that exclusion behaviours were a communication of personal and social problems that were amplified by punitive school measures. Ways in which schools can implement these findings are discussed with key recommendations for employing these findings within schools and educational settings.

摘要

在英格兰，每年有越来越多的儿童被永久地排除在学校之外。儿童的排斥经历在文献中的代表性不足，有效地突出了研究人员的观点和解释。这项定性研究使用半结构化访谈来探索被排斥儿童讲述他们被学校排斥的经历的方式（N = 18）。主题分析用于识别儿童数据的趋势，整合关键主题以了解儿童如何理解排斥情况。这项研究的主要发现是，被排斥的儿童倾向于将学校误读为社会不公正、欺凌和特殊教育需求的症状，即行为不端和不服从。孩子们报告说，排斥行为是一种个人和社会问题的交流，被学校的惩罚措施放大了。讨论了学校实施这些调查结果的方式，并提出了在学校和教育环境中使用这些调查结果的关键建议。