Paul Whiteman, general secretary at school leaders' union NAHT,
said the new figures, which
show a record number of school exclusions and suspensions during
the 2022-23 academic year, are a sign of the desperate need for
change.
He said: “The fact that we've reached this headline figure of
record suspensions and exclusions should be a deep concern to
everyone involved in education and it will be another stark
reminder to the new government of the scale of the task ahead of
them. One thing is very clear, we cannot go on as we are.
“Schools work incredibly hard to support children and use
suspensions and exclusions as a last resort, but
they cannot be expected to address the full range complex
root-causes that can often lead to disruptive behaviour in the
classroom.
“The solution lies partly in ensuring families and schools have
better access to support from services like children's social
care and CAMHS, and in making sure appropriate provision is in
place for children with special educational needs so that we can
prevent underlying issues escalating and make it easier for
children and teachers to focus on learning. Similarly, we need to
rebuild specialist behaviour support teams so schools can access
timely specialist help for the children and young people that
need it.
“We are pleased that the new government has promised to start
tackling some of these wider social issues, including the vital
work of tackling child poverty, many of which had increasingly
gone unchecked over the last decade as successive administrations
failed to invest properly in vital support services.”
