Suspended pupils are year behind other schoolchildren on average says study

PUPILS who have been suspended from secondary school are, on average, around a year behind their peers who have never been suspended, a report has suggested.

Suspended pupils tended to have lower GCSE grades even after accounting for other factors – such as demographics, socio-economic disadvantage, prior attainment and school characteristics – according to think-tank Education Policy Institute (EPI).

The paper, commissioned by charity Impetus, found that pupils with even just one suspension are, on average, not achieving a “standard pass” (a grade 4) in GCSE English and maths.

It comes after recent Government figures showed that school suspensions have been rising.

The EPI research studied a cohort of 585,827 state school pupils in England who started Year 7 in 2014 and it followed their progress throughout school until they sat their GCSEs in 2019.

It concluded that “suspended pupils were, on average, approximately 12 months behind their not-suspended peers”.

The report added: “It is important to remember that we cannot claim that suspensions cause lower attainment.

“Several factors can influence the risk of being suspended as well as the risk of low attainment (e.g. socioeconomic disadvantage).

“Therefore, it can be challenging to disentangle the effects of a suspension from those associated with other vulnerabilities in a pupil’s life.”

Schools should proactively identify those at risk of suspension and plan early intervention to reduce the need for suspension, it added.

A DfE spokesperson said: “The Government is very clear it backs head teachers to use suspensions and permanent exclusions where required, so they can provide calm, safe, and supportive environments for children to learn in.”