‘The world is out to get me, bruv’: life after school ‘exclusion’

Abstract

130Word count: 5,157 Abstract Increasingly, punitive policies on 'problematic' pupils are implemented in poorperforming UK urban state schools. While some are permanently excluded and referred to local authority educational alternatives, others are unofficially 'excluded' and referred to other forms of off-site educational provision. Here pupils receive a significantly reduced timetable, undertake unchallenging courses and are unlikely to return to school. Based on ethnographic fieldwork with 20 excluded young people in one south London borough, this paper will discuss what happens to these young people after their 'exclusion' from school. I will suggest that this form of unofficial 'exclusion' has significant life implications for these young people, contributing not only to their social exclusion but also increased exposure to crime and victimisation.Moreover, their life options are truncated despite their efforts they may make otherwise.

Covid, schooling and race in England: a case of necropolitics

“…BAME students have had low attendance at school when schools have been open, they have been more likely to miss out on formal learning in general than white pupils, public examination arrangements are likely to disadvantage them, and they may have been excluded at a higher rate. It is important to note that exclusion from school has significant further implications for an individual's future life chances: it increases the likelihood of unemployment, and of involvement in criminal activity, both as a perpetrator and as a victim (Briggs 2010;Graham 2014Graham , 2015Graham , 2016. It is also important to consider once again that while BAME children are discriminated against and experience systematic disadvantage in school, missing out completely on a significant amount of formal learning equally leads to disadvantage in later years (Ladson-Billings 2021).…”

Criminological perspectives on school exclusion and youth offending

“…Literature in the fields of education and criminology has acknowledged that both schooling and its disciplinary mechanisms, and the criminal justice system, can exacerbate and help reproduce socioeconomic, race, and gender differences. Numerous studies have identified that young people with particular characteristics are more likely to be excluded from school: being male, of Black-Caribbean origin, in local authority care, of lower socioeconomic background, having a special educational need (SEN), and having a mental health condition, all increase the likelihood (McCluskey et al 2019;Hayden 1997;Williamson and Cullingford 2003;McCluskey 2008a;Briggs 2010;Meiners 2013;Strand and Fletcher 2014;Cole 2015. ) Furthermore, young people experience accumulated disadvantage when the consequences of school exclusion intersect with poverty, poor health and housing, and difficult family circumstances (McCluskey et al 2019(McCluskey et al : 1156.…”

“…Similarly, but in the context of contemporary urban London, Briggs (2010) has argued that excluded young people are more likely to engage in street culture with other equally marginalised peers that they perceive as sources of support. According to Briggs, peer groups become a sanctuary for educationally disaffected young people, and the socio-cultural circumstances of gang-involvement then shape their perceptions about the world and their life chances within it.…”

‘Vulnerable’ Kids Going Country: Children and Young People’s Involvement in County Lines Drug Dealing

“…Those young people, whether from the locality or commuting from the urban hub, who live or work in drug selling houses may suffer additional harms. Their residence/place of work may be unhygienic, uncomfortable and result in them observing and interacting with normalised crack/heroin consumption and sexual acts (Briggs, 2010, 2013). Detective Inspector Tom Hadley of West Midlands Police reported in a recent court case against an OTD that three children who had been transported from Birmingham to Lincolnshire were.…”