This IPPR report explores the rising tide of lost learning, and sets out a strong economic case to invest in reducing escalations.
Suspensions and exclusions across all schools and all year groups in England are predicted to have risen by over 20 per cent last year compared to the previous year, according to this report. It found that the suspension and exclusion rate for secondary school children (year seven to year 11) increased from 14.3 per cent to 17 per cent.
That number is 72 per cent higher than in 2018/19 (the last full school year before the pandemic) and is the equivalent of every pupil in two cities the size of Liverpool missing school every day for a year.
The report reveals that many widely-used estimations of exclusions and absences have failed to capture the full picture of children losing learning nationally. It introduces an ‘exclusions continuum’ covering 14 types of ‘losing learning’ (including exclusions, suspensions and unauthorised absences) and finds that the most vulnerable children are most likely to miss out across this continuum.
Poorer children, children known to social services, those with school-identified special educational needs (SEN) and/or mental ill health, and children from ethnic minority backgrounds disproportionately experience missed learning.