Inclusion/Exclusion: The framing of a policy dilemma

Over the last five years there has been a substantial reduction in the number of school exclusions in Glasgow. This is a result of strong managerial intervention from the Director of Education who has closely monitored the number and length of exclusions, querying exclusion decisions and intervening on a case by case basis, while providing a policy steer which discourages the use of exclusion other than in exceptional circumstances. In the presentation, this policy change will be placed in the context of changes in the leadership and management model in schools, wider policy considerations about the consequences of school exclusion on the current and future behaviour of young people, policy initiatives coming from central government in relation to school exclusion, resistance to limits on the use of exclusion from teachers and their representative bodies and local initiatives to limit exclusion by authority managers. My interest will particularly focus on how school-based educational and disciplinary considerations interact with a wider policy debate and beyond school policy considerations which prevail at local and central government level.