Blog by Eleanor Stokes, Education Policy Researcher, ROTA
Since 2012 ROTA has been gathering evidence on informal school exclusions - and its various guises such ‘off rolling’ and ‘home schooling’ - to the detriment of
Blog by Eleanor Stokes, Education Policy Researcher, ROTA
Since 2012 ROTA has been gathering evidence on informal school exclusions - and its various guises such ‘off rolling’ and ‘home schooling’ - to the detriment of pupils and their families who have experienced this. We also have evidence that young BAME pupils may be disproportionately affected. It comes as no surprise to ROTA that not only is this practice continuing in 2018 but may be increasing.
Off-rolling is increasing as schools struggle to improve grade averages by removing pupils unlikely to achieve well in their exams. A recent investigation by the Times newspaper (28th August 2018) made front page news with claims that in 2018 almost 13,000 pupils - were ‘off-rolled’ during their GCSE year - a strategy thought to be strongly suggestive of a way for schools to improve grade averages by removing pupils considered unlikely to perform well.
The Education Select Committee, to whom ROTA has previously submitted evidence on informal school exclusions, reported in July 2018 that manipulating the GCSE league tables through the illegal practice of off-rolling pupils prior to exams is affecting the educational opportunities of ‘thousands of vulnerable children.’ (HoC, Education Select Committee, 2018 )
Few schools will admit to off-rolling pupils for other than ‘legitimate’ reasons. Based on interviews with pupils, teachers and youth organisations, ROTA has suspected for some time that schools have been removing pupils from the roll for reasons of boosting GCSE exam results in the league tables. Obtaining statistical evidence has been fraught with difficulty. Few schools will admit to referring pupils to alternative provision or PRUs for any reason other than legitimate ones, such as where they endanger other pupils or where there are particularly challenging difficulties which the child may face in the classroom.
Some children appear to have disappeared from records altogether. It is of even more concern that PRU admissions do not account for all the children who have disappeared off-roll. Using pupil-level data from the Department for Education for 2017-2018, Ofsted found that of the number listed as having been removed from school (19,000 pupils in total) half were recorded as having moved elsewhere or been sent to alternative provision, but ‘the other half could not be accounted for’. This figure should prompt immediate questions about their whereabouts and welfare. ROTA has evidence to suggest that ‘home schooling’ may account for some missing pupils, but as there are few verifiable statistics available on home schooling, it is impossible to say what the true number is. Nor what has happened to those who are not being home-schooled.
There is increasing evidence of a link between exclusion and offending. According to the Office of the Children’s Commission, there is an association between the climbing rate of exclusion and a rise in juvenile offending, evidenced by an increasing number of young people who identify as gang members. (Anne Longfield, Children’s Commissi