Commenting on a new report by the Education Policy Institute (EPI) Outcomes for young people who experience multiple suspensions examining the disadvantage gap in education, particularly at GSCE, Sixth Form and college level, Daniel Kebede, General Secretary of the National Education Unions, said:
“As the EPI report points out pupils who may need additional support or have mental health issues are more likely to be suspended. Schools do all they can to address their students needs but they do so with increasingly dwindling or non existent support.
‘Cuts to services including CHAMS, speech and language support and access to SEND specialists have left schools with little or no professional help to refer students or families to. An inflexible curriculum alongside cuts to creative, physical and practical subjects is also resulting in excluding many children and young people from education.
‘Government knows the lack of mental health support and provision in the country. It is high time our schools, colleges and society had the funding and professional support needed to ensure every child gets the education they deserve”.