School exclusions are a social justice issue. As systemic factors continue to exacerbate barriers to inclusion, England has seen a more than 20% school exclusion increase in the past year.
Answers rest on a renewed focus on trusting, reciprocal relationships, and greater multiagency collaboration between schools and local services, making local education systems more inclusive to reduce preventable exclusions.
Our latest action research in education concludes a three-year project working with three localities across England - East Sussex, Oldham and Worcestershire - to facilitate greater multiagency collaboration to make local education systems more inclusive in order to reduce preventable exclusions.
The project builds on the findings of our (2020) Pinball Kids research, that showed how a renewed focus on trusting, reciprocal relationships between schools and local services can identify and respond early to pupils’ needs and help reduce exclusions. It finalises the work outlined in our interim (2023) Collaborations For Change report, which noted the progress of our Preventing School Exclusions project.
In the first stage of this project, we worked with a range of professionals and agencies to understand the local factors that drive or hinder multiagency collaboration. We also spoke with pupils with lived experience of exclusions and their families to capture their perspectives. Engaging with practitioners and beneficiaries in this way helped us create detailed maps of local systems and their dynamics, that informed an RSA-led process in which local stakeholders co-designed improved approaches to collaboration. Findings from this stage of the project are detailed in our Collaborations for Change interim report.
For the final stages of the project, we’ve supported the local collaboratives to implement their plans to minimise and remove barriers to school inclusion, gaining useful, transferable insights on how to support multiagency collaboration to foster inclusion and reduce preventable exclusions. Representatives from each regional collaborative will share the work they’ve done at an online event on the 9th October, livestreamed from RSA House.
*Please note this event is online only via Zoom Webinar. Please register for the event and a link to access the webinar will be emailed to you in advance.*
