Expulsion or exclusion refers to the permanent removal of a student from a school system or university for persistently violating that institution's rules. Laws and procedures regarding expulsion vary between countries and states.
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If a child has been expelled from two schools, then any state school is legally allowed to refuse admittance of that student. (Schools on special measures may refuse to admit a student who has been expelled from only one school.) Therefore, a student who has been expelled from two schools might be totally removed from the state education system. As a result, it is rare for a pupil to be expelled (or permanently excluded) in the UK's state sector.
The exclusion of pupils is governed by the Education Act 2002.[1]
The Secretary of State's guidance states that exclusion is a serious step. Exclusion should be used only in response to serious breaches of a school's discipline policy and only after a range of alternative strategies to resolve the pupil's disciplinary problems have been tried and proven to have failed; and where allowing the pupil to remain in school would be seriously detrimental to the education or welfare of other pupils and staff, or of the pupil himself or herself.
In practice, a student can usually be subject to permanent exclusion for a total of five disciplinary breaches, for which the student does not have to receive formal 'warnings'. Depending on his or her offense, a child can be excluded from the school system within any range of time after his or her misdeed. Though the teaching staff may recommend a pupil to be expelled, only the headteacher is legally empowered to exclude a student; he or she is not permitted to delegate that power to another person, but if he or she is ill or otherwise unable to perform his or her duties, another staff member may become the acting headteacher and inherit the power to expel students.
When excluding a student, the headteacher must inform the pupil's parents of the duration of the exclusion (whether it be temporary or permanent), reasons for exclusion, and the procedures which a parent may take to make an appeal. The headteacher must also inform the Local Education Authority of the circumstances surrounding permanent exclusions, fixed-term exclusions exceeding five days, and exclusions which result in a student being unable to take a public examination.
There may be occasions a head teacher may decide that it is proper to expel a pupil for a first or one-off offence.[2] For a single case of one of the following, a pupil can be excluded permanently:
If a student has a history of breaking other school rules, that too could result in expulsion. Some offenses which may lead to expulsion when repeated persistently include:
Since many violent students often rebel against school rules, some head teachers may choose to expel a student who has performed an act of violence against another pupil for persistent defiance rather than violence. This is in order to protect the victim from being assaulted again as revenge for the excluded student's expulsion. Some regard this "totting up" process of persistent defiance to be unfair, as the pupil will have often been punished once already for each act, and expulsion can be seen as a second punishment imposed after the matter had been settled.
The pupil and his or her parents can appeal to the school governors against the expulsion. If the appeal fails to reinstate the pupil, a further appeal can be made to an appeals board (which sits on the behalf of the Local Education Authority).
The parents of an excluded pupil are entitled to appeal against expulsion or an exclusion exceeding five days to a panel of school governors acting as a court.
The panel, which consists of parents and staff and cannot include the headteacher, is not legally able to exclude a pupil or extend a term of exclusion, but it can:
The appeal must occur no sooner than six days after and no more than 15 days after the exclusion begins. The panel considers oral, written, or physical evidence from the school detailing the case for expulsion, and from the parents of the excluded pupil. The pupil and his or her parents may argue that the excluded pupil was not responsible for the act for which her or she has been excluded, or that the punishment is disproportionate to the offense.
If the appeal to the governors is unsuccessful, an expelled or excluded student and his or her parents may go to an appeals board. This panel, which is appointed by the Local Education Authority, must be autonomous of the Authority, the school, and the parents of the excluded student.[2]
The majority of the appeals that these panels hear are not against exclusions, but are for the admission of pupils into schools. Although the Local Education Authority are in theory obligated to provide education to a pupil under school-leaving age (Year 11 and below), in practice (usually when the pupil is denied access to other schools and/or the pupil referral unit) the Local Education Authority employs techniques such as appointing a single tutor for one lesson a week.
In the independent sector, a pupil can be ‘permanently excluded’ at the discretion of the Head, with the interests of the school taking precedence over the rights and interests of pupil and parent. This disregard for natural justice was the basis of the play The Winslow Boy which brings into question a system that seeks to protect its reputation at the cost of truth in carrying out an expulsion. Currently, if the matter is not a disciplinary issue, a Head will refer to an expulsion as "a requirement to withdraw", and is "immediate and permanent".[3]
Mass expulsions in the UK independent sector occurred with some frequency during the 1970s as headmasters struggled to control outbreaks of drugs usage. For example, pupils at Oundle School may recall the entire school being summoned to assembly one afternoon to hear the headmaster, Dr BMW Trapnell, explain not only why he had to expel almost 10 boys for this offence, but also how none of these boys would subsequently be able to become chartered accountants. Bruce Dickinson is another example of an Oundle pupil expelled by the same headmaster.
Whereas expulsion from a UK independent school means permanent removal from the school, 'rustication' usually means removal from the school for the remainder of the current term.
In the United States, Expulsion criteria and process vary from state to state, though it is very difficult for a student to be expelled from school, except in cases of violence or drug use on school property. Following the Columbine shooting event and many "zero-tolerance" policies, schools have become increasingly willing to expel students for minor offenses in certain categories. Depending on local school board jurisdiction, approval from that school's local school board may be required before a student can be expelled, as opposed to a suspension which may only require approval from the principal. Students are usually not expelled for academic violations such as plagiarism that would be punishable in college.
Students may be withdrawn by their principals for a variety of reasons, those listed in one source include the following. Standards listed here are in accordance to California education standards.[4]
Causing, attempting to cause, threatening to cause, or participating in an act of hate violence.
This has been cited by some as something which can result in expulsion. While it is not mentioned explicitly it does come under defying the valid authority of supervisors, teachers or other members of staff. Students are often expelled from school for truancy. In the United States, students under 18 (most states) are considered truants if they do not regularly attend school and can result in charges against the parents. Students without disabilities that are under 18 who are expelled have the option to attend alternative schools. Students with disabilities who are expelled are required to have home instruction provided for them. Students without disabilities that over 18 have the option to go to alternative schools but do not have to be enrolled in school by most state laws.
Depending on the reason, some students do have a chance of re-entering the school system after being expelled. Sometimes the student is even able to return to the school that they were withdrawn from. However, if the offense that causes expulsion is highly threatening to others, then the student may not be allowed to go on the grounds of their former school. If the person does, s/he risks being arrested and legal action against the person.
Expulsion and exclusion are both terms for removing a student from a school for misconduct. The difference is students under 16 years of age are excluded and those 16 or over are expelled, but both are commonly referred to as expulsion. For any student that is excluded, because they are under the minimum school leaving age, the excluding school is required to find an alternative school for the student to attend, or reinstate the student if another school cannot be found. For students that are expelled, the expelling school is not required to find an alternative school, as the student is over the minimum school leaving age.
Exclusion/expulsion cannot be directly done by the principal. It must be done through suspending the student, and requiring the school's board of trustees, or a standing disciplinary committee of the board, to independently assess whether or not the situation is serious enough to justify exclusion or expulsion of the student.[6]