England programme: Education
We're working to help excluded children get back into education
Many children in England miss out on education, and we want to change this.
About 9,000 children are permanently excluded from school each year, and many more are at risk of exclusion. Another 10,000 are missing from the education system altogether. Those most at risk from exclusion include children with special educational needs, Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children and boys from an African-Caribbean background.
We're working directly with pupils facing exclusion. We believe that these children should have the opportunity to state their case, and have an independent advocate to make sure that their interests are properly represented. Our "EAR to Listen" project aims to reduce the number of children excluded from school or at risk of being excluded. We've set up independent education advocacy and mediation services across the country. The advocates listen to children, work with them and their teachers to find ways of getting them back into school, and then support them to stay there.
Altogether we've contacted 200 pupils, 271 parents and 311 professionals. More than half the cases are children with emotional and behavioural difficulties. They include refugees and asylum-seekers, young carers, children in care, those with special educational needs, and those using drugs and other harmful substances.
We run a project to help Gypsy, Roma and Traveller preschool children to help them access good quality, inclusive early-years education. In partnership with the Department for Children, Schools and Families, we've produced a guide for people working in early years centres. The aim is to help 3,000 children from these communities to get access to appropriate early years education.
We are now beginning to develop new work to ensure that children from deprived backgrounds have the same opportunities to achieve highly in their education as their peers. We know that education is one of the surest routes out of poverty and believe that all children deserve a good quality, appropriate education.
