This report published by the Education Policy Institute and commissioned by youth education charity Impetus, has identified a ‘suspension employment gap’ with young people who are suspended at secondary school experiencing a range of poorer outcomes in late adolescence and early adulthood.
The new research builds on a previous report published in March by the EPI and Impetus, which found a ‘suspension grades gap’, showing young people experiencing suspension are less likely to pass crucial Maths and English GCSEs than their peers.
It includes a new analysis of state welfare use by young people who have experienced suspension, exploring the receipt of out-of-work benefits and health-related benefits by age 24, using new data linking pupils’ education and state-welfare records.
The report found that approximately 16 per cent of pupils were suspended at least once in secondary school and that suspended pupils have poor educational, occupational, and health-related outcomes in early adulthood which seem mostly related to their GCSE grades.
In other words, the link between suspension and outcomes in adulthood may be indirect, as suspended pupils have lower GCSE grades, on average, which may, in turn, limit access to further education opportunities.