Contributions from: Caroline Karayiannis, Laura Lundy, School of Law, Queen's University of Belfast, Ms Alex Barr, Chief Education Welfare Officer, Southern Education and Library Board.
Abstract
This symposium will be based on on-going research being conducted in Northern Ireland on young people who are excluded from school for disciplinary reasons. The presenters will describe the policy and procedures that operate across Northern Ireland but throughout the focus will be on the young person and much of material presented will be of a qualitative nature.
Permanent exclusions from school are significantly lower in Northern Ireland than in England and the first paper will explore why this might be the case through identifying differences in policy and the education systems. The paper will consider whether there are lessons to be learned from the Northern Irish system. The second paper will then describe discipline procedures as they operate in schools with a focus on students' views of these procedures. This will be followed by a paper describing the experiences of students who are temporarily and permanently excluded and the alternatives available to them. Here again, there will be a particular emphasis on the students' perspective. Finally, the symposium will close by describing one form of alternative education for young people who are permanently excluded, the difficulties encountered and some strategies for overcoming these difficulties.
Pupils' perceptions of discipline and behaviour management
Dr
Rosemary Kilpatrick, Graduate School of Education, Queen's University of
Belfast
As a result of this growing concern regarding the management of disruptive behaviour in schools, research on exclusions from school and associated discipline issues was conducted for the Department of Education (Northern Ireland) by the Graduate School of Education at Queen's University of Belfast. The research was divided into three phases the third phase being based on in-depth case studies of behaviour management and discipline issues in eight secondary schools. These schools were selected on the basis of that they demonstrated elements of good practice such as a positive behaviour policy, well developed suspension procedures, the use of preventative measures to minimise the necessity for suspensions and the appropriate use of support services.
In all participating schools the principals, a range of teachers including those with responsibility for discipline and/or pastoral care, parents and pupils from year 9 (aged 12-13 years) and years 11 (aged 15-16 years) were interviewed either in groups or on an individual basis. Additionally, where possible members of the board of governors also took part. The data from the interviews with pupils form the basis of this paper in which their views and perceptions on the discipline policies and behaviour management in their schools are explored as are their ideas for improvement and changes in this system.
The Experiences of Students Excluded from School
Ms Alex
Barr, Chief Education Welfare Officer, Southern Education and Library Board
Permanent exclusion from school should not be seen as solely the exclusion event but as part of a process. Booth (1996) argued that when certain groups of pupils were devalued because of their race, gender, disability, misbehaviour or ability level it exclusion from school became easier. Cullingford and Morrison (1996) saw permanent exclusion as the final act in a play that may have started with bullying or misbehaviour leading to disillusionment with school, truancy and finally exclusion. In their research they failed to encounter any pupils who were excluded suddenly and unwillingly from school and that most had been psychologically excluding themselves long before the school formally excluded them.
This paper aims to examine the process of exclusion as it was
experienced by a group of pupils who were 'multiple suspended' (three or more
suspensions) during the 1996/7 academic year. The educational placement of
these students has been followed-up over the 1997/8 academic year and is in the
process of being followed-up for the 1998/9 and 1999/2000.
The intention of
this follow-up is to find out the:
Expulsions in Northern Ireland: lessons to be learned?
Laura
Lundy: School of Law, Queen's University of Belfast
This paper will attempt to identify why the numbers of pupils permanently excluded from school in England is so significantly greater than in Northern Ireland. Firstly, comparisons will be drawn between the numbers of young people excluded in the two areas for three academic years (1994/1995 to 1997/98) with any similar trends being identified. This will be followed by a consideration of the differences in legislation relating to permanent exclusions in England and Wales and the equivalent process (i.e. expulsion) in Northern Ireland. An analysis of these differences will allow for an exploration as to the extent to which they could account for the lower number of expulsions in Northern Ireland. Other factors which may play a part here will also be highlighted and finally, any lessons to be learned from the Northern Ireland outlined.
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