23. School Exclusion: Preventing students from being left behind (Prof Ian Thompson)

A student’s success in school is determined by a wide spectrum of factors, including family life, relationships, mental health, and school policy. Since the pandemic, there has been a concerning drop in student attainment around the world. Even more concerning is the rising numbers of students being excluded from secondary schools. This exclusion is driven by the school’s reaction to poor behaviour often guided by the assumption that punishment will change behaviour. To help us better understand the cause and impact of school exclusion, as well as strategies to keep students in school, I am joined by an Oxford University professor who has been researching this issue for several years. Prof Ian Thompson is Associate Professor of English Education at Oxford University’s Department of Education and Director of the PGCE course. He is joint convenor of the Oxford Centre for Sociocultural and Activity Theory Research (OSAT) and a Fellow of St. Hugh’s College. He is also a member of Oxford University’s English Faculty. Ian is currently co-PI on the £2.55 million ESRC funded project Excluded Lives: The Political Economies of School Exclusion and their Consequences. Thank you Ian for joining me today.     Prof Ian Thompson: http://www.education.ox.ac.uk/people/ian-thompson/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/IanThompsonEd Excluded Lives: The Political Economies of School Exclusion and their Consequences: http://www.education.ox.ac.uk/research/excluded-lives/ Book: Poverty in Education Across the UK: A Comparative Analysis of Policy and Place https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/poverty-in-education-across-the-uk Articles: After Warnock: The Effects of Perverse Incentives in Policies in England for Students With Special Educational Need https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2019.00036/full Factors associated with high and low levels of school exclusions: comparing the English and wider UK experience https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13632752.2019.1628340