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Q I’m a head teacher. At a local NUT meeting, a colleague mentioned that the exclusions guidance will be changing and heads will not be able to permanently exclude students. Is this true?
A Head teachers will not lose the right to permanently exclude students. But there are changes coming up in the area of school exclusions.
The Government wants to change the way alternative provision works. It wants schools to retain responsibility for permanently excluded pupils and is trialling this in 300 secondary schools across England. Schools in the pilot have been asked to explore the following new approach:
• head teachers who permanently exclude a pupil from their school will choose the alternative provision (not the local authority, which is what happens now)
• the excluding school will receive the funding for the alternative provision (instead of the local authority)
• the school will be required to monitor the attainment and attendance of excluded pupils.
The national guidance on exclusions will change in September 2012. The Department for Education consultation on the changes closed on 17 February.
The changes will relate to the replacement of independent appeals panels with independent review panels, which will have different powers; to the information which you and your governors must provide to parents following exclusions; and to some of the current time limits on when a governing body must meet to consider an exclusion decision.
For further information, go to
www.teachers.org.uk/taxonomy/term/1488.
Q The PRU where I teach is due to have an Ofsted inspection. I’m worried because of comments made by politicians about the quality of alternative provision. Will we be judged on standards appropriate to the children we teach?
A
Pupil referral units are hugely undervalued. PRU teachers are expert at engaging vulnerable and disaffected children and young people, and those with medical needs, and working to engage their parents and carers. Teachers plan work carefully so it relates to pupils’ specific needs.
Politicians commenting about alternative provision should check the figures about PRUs. Inspections data reveal that pupil referral units are very effective, though this is not publicised.
Between 1 September 2010 and 31 August 2011, 65 per cent of PRUs were judged ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’, compared with 52 per cent of mainstream secondary schools.
The proportion of PRUs believed by Ofsted to be inadequate was the same as the proportion of mainstream schools.
Inspectors are required to have enhanced training by Ofsted before inspecting pupil referral units in recognition of the specialised nature of PRUs. Guidance for inspectors says they must consider how achievement and progress relate to pupils’ starting point, and how behaviour is improving over time.
In relation to judging pupil attendance, however, national data from mainstream primary and secondary schools is used as a guideline.
Further information is available on the NUT website at
www.teachers.org.uk/node/7633
Send your questions for the NUT’s experts on legal, professional, and health and safety matters to: Ask the Union, The Teacher, NUT, Hamilton House, Mabledon Place, London WC1H 9BD or email
teacher@nut.org.uk
Please note that questions relating to personal problems or specific workplace situations should be directed to your school NUT rep or division/association – find details at
www.teachers.org.uk/contactus
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