Over the past year, there have been plenty of stories in which exclusions or isolations were utilised in either a positive or negative way, every school will practice their own way of doing them however are they affective towards students?
Exclusions are used as a punishment or a deterrent if a student breaks the rules or continually breaks the rules throughout a period, according to students; if you get excluded from the school you are simply ‘having a day off.’ If a student is excluded for a long period of time, then they will miss out on valuable teaching and be put at a disadvantage compared to their peers. If a student is being due to an exclusion, this causes more work for the teacher as well as making the other students potentially suffer. A DfE study stated that only one-in-five students who were excluded gained five pass grades at GCSE.
Isolation booths do not work, enforcing students to sit down and stare at nothing, not make any noises or interact with anyone is a complete waste of the student’s and school’s time. If a student is told to stare at nothing for a few hours and not interact, will this calm them down? Will this improve their behaviour? I think not. Behaviour has become a huge problem in schools in recent years, because of these behaviour problems, two thirds of teachers have considered quitting the profession. Maybe exclusions and isolation booths aren’t working?
