Policy Levers, Drivers, and Legal Frameworks of Out-of-School Suspension: Centering Issues of Equity

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session Two
  In Roundtable Session: Frames and Drivers of Discipline and School Policing Reform (Table 3)

Abstract

Differential rates of school suspension/expulsion persist across the four countries of UK. Our previous comparative research has revealed rapidly rising suspension rates in England and a contrasting picture of much lower and reducing rates in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales (Cole et al. 2019, X et al. 2021, Y et. al 2019, Z 2019). In this paper we examine this divergence in detail, focusing on policy and legislation levers and drivers. We identify themes and patterns, key influences and significant silences within these four distinct policy frameworks, which point back to differential and disproportionate rates of suspension which contribute to understanding of entrenched educational inequalities.

Authors

• Gillean McCluskey, University of Edinburgh
  Presenting Author

• Annie Taylor, University of Edinburgh
  Presenting Author