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The government of the United Kingdom has two top educational policy priorities: ensuring that education is as socially inclusive as possible within mainstream schools and raising students' educational attainment standards. In this study, the author explores a continuing tension between government aspirations as represented by the government's policy concerning the education of disaffected and frequently disruptive students (macro level) and an educational provision intended to address these students' needs in one urban secondary school (micro level). Such students are typically deemed to have special educational needs (SEN), and each school is responsible for identifying and addressing them. Excluding a student from school is widely viewed as the ultimate sanction. The effects of a government policy that encourages inclusion and minimizes exclusion is the focus of this research. In this article, the study is discussed in two parts. In the first part, the author summarizes the challenges presented by the presence of disaffected pupils attending secondary schools in England. In the second part, the author looks at eight students attending a learning support unit established within 1 school to help minimize exclusion. The locus-of-control beliefs of these students; their views concerning three selected “core” subjects in the curriculum; and their attendance before joining the unit, while attending it, and at follow-up are presented.

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