EXCLUSION FROM SCHOOL AND VICTIM BLAMING

Over recent years evidence of increasing levels of exclusion from Brit ish schools has been provided by individual researchers, teaching asso ciations, local education authorities, the media and the government. C urrent dominant perceptions tend to focus on the pathological behaviou r of individual children (children who 'behave badly' in the Governmen t's terms) or the inability of schools to manage such challenging beha viour. Less readily acknowledged are the inherent tensions resulting f rom processes that permit certain children to be denied access to the compulsory education system and the interaction between exclusion from school and race, gender and class stratification. Exclusion must, the refore, be seen not only in terms of young people's experiences of edu cation and schooling but also as part of the complex relationship betw een individuals, families, the labour market, health and state support and surveillance services. The paper aims to contribute to increasing awareness of the disadvantage experienced by children whose need is c ompounded by exclusion from the education system and tension between r ecent child care legislation and educational reform in Britain. It cau tions practioners and policy-makers against the hasty application of p otentially divisive and counterproductive 'solutions' based on legal a nd administrative responses, 'effective' management of children's beha viour within school and resourcing for schools and support services. R ather it hopes to begin to identify the questions which should be aske d in order to gain a more accurate understanding of the problem.