"A good pupil referral unit is an empty one," says Debra Rutley, deputy head of the Wycombe Grange unit in Buckinghamshire. Unfortunately, there's little chance that many of the units have been empty in recent years.
Official figures show that the number of permanent exclusions from schools in England and Wales rose 6 per cent in 2003-4 to nearly 9,900 children, and referral units are their most likely destination.
But an Ofsted report last year found that the educational support and quality of provision for pupils not in school was unsatisfactory.(1) Although there were "pockets of exemplary practice", too many young people were "in danger of being lost to the system, becoming disaffected and underachieving".
The importance of support and alternative education for permanently excluded pupils is highlighted by a study from the University of Birmingham published in 2003.(2) Only about half of the 141 young people they tracked were in education, training or employment two years after their permanent exclusion. Those who offended before they were excluded continued to offend, while others started to do so. The study also pointed out that the service attended by the young people was typically determined by local vacancies rather than a "careful matching to appropriate provision".
This report was, however, based on research carried out before a major government drive kicked in. Since September 2002, local education authorities have had to make suitable education or training available to permanently excluded young people and there is a belief that this has led to big changes in provision.
John Dunford, general secretary of the Secondary Heads Association, believes the situation has improved greatly over the past three years.
"There are now more places in referral units," he says. "It used to be the case that too many children were excluded and then received no education."
There are about 450 registered referral units in England, educating nearly 14,500 pupils - not all of them excluded - and employing 3,360 teachers. The government has doubled the number of places in recent years and the Conservatives want to expand provision again to create "turnaround schools" for disruptive pupils.
But Dunford is wary of their proposals. "We want to avoid dumping grounds," he says. "The primary objective should be to get these young people back into normal society. To do that they might have to spend some time out of school."
The range of options available for permanently excluded pupils - and the variety of agencies involved in their lives - is highlighted in a study carried out by the independent National Foundation for Educational Research in July 2004.(3) As well as statutory agencies, such as the police, youth offending teams and social services, young people can gain support and provision from organisations running activities ranging from arts and music to car mechanic training, work placements and sports.
The referral unit can act as the commissioning body in these situations. At Wycombe Grange, Rutley says young people are offered a large number of activities because keeping them in a classroom all week would be too intense.
The unit also carries out preventive work. "As soon as a student starts to show signs of vulnerability, a school makes a referral and tells us what they want from us," Rutley says. This may involve outreach work, where one of the unit's staff visits the student at their school, or students attending the unit part-time. Schools can also refer students directly to the unit if the child is past outreach work.
Rutley says students are assessed when they start attending the unit to identify gaps in their learning and any special educational needs. However, she feels its emotional support is as important as its education. "The biggest thing we can offer here is a safe place to come and talk to somebody."
The quality of Buckinghamshire's referral units was highlighted in Ofsted's report on provision for pupils not in school. It said the units enjoyed a close relationship with schools and offered "a seamless continuum of support to vulnerable children and their teachers", adding that the "pay-off" was a year-on-year reduction in permanent exclusions.
Steve Edgar, Buckinghamshire Council's senior adviser on school improvement, says this was achieved by focusing on more managed moves for disruptive pupils to other schools, despite there being no let-up in the number of referrals.
Although good practice does exist, there are still concerns about the government's direction. Jacqui Newvell, head of the pupil inclusion unit at children's charity the National Children's Bureau, says that although there is a lot more provision in referral units she is "not necessarily convinced" that it offers the best educational experience for many excluded young people.
She is also worried about the effect of increasing the number of places. "I think the referral units are like cupboards," she says. "The more spaces you have, the more you are going to find somebody to fill them."
She wants the government to rethink its approach. "Pupils in referral units are probably the most at-risk young people in the community. For some, it's an issue of disaffection with education but others have huge social and emotional needs."
Newvell believes the Conservatives' plan to create turnaround schools is "taking it back a century", and says local education authorities need more resources to provide alternative education.
"It's not good enough for the government to say there's a statutory duty to make sure children get a full-time education," she says. "We talk to a lot of young people and many have had long periods out of school after exclusion. There needs to be a coming together of the Every Child Matters agenda and the education and attainment agenda."
"There is no alternative"
Although the government has made it a priority to tackle persistent disruptive behaviour - a major reason for exclusion - some feel its plans should go further.
Think-tank the Institute for Public Policy Research has just published research showing many teachers believe there is no alternative to exclusions, and has made several recommendations on tackling poor behaviour.(1)
Jodie Reed, report author and research fellow at the institute, wants fewer children to be ent to "one-size-fits-all" pupil referral units. She says it is unrealistic to expect them to suit every type of child with challenging behaviour.
She argues that more emphasis needs to be placed on developing relationships between schools, pupils and parents at an earlier stage in children's schooling.
To achieve this, the think-tank wants primary schools to make an effort to pass on their relationships with parents and children to secondary shcools.
Reed says this should involve a handover meeting between a child's parents, primary teacher and secondary teacher at transition.
