Abstract

The Department for Education (DfE) guide on exclusion shares twelve categories that head teachers choose from when reporting the reason for fixed and permanent exclusions from school. It is made explicit that of these twelve, the ‘other’ category is ‘to be used sparingly’ (2017a, p. 17; 2019a, p. 96). This policy brief examines the percentage of ‘other’ as the reason for fixed period and permanent school exclusion from 153 local authorities (LA) in England in 2017/18 (DfE, 2019b). In some LA areas, the reason ‘other’ accounts for over 57% of all fixed period and 67% of permanent exclusions issued. This report explores the rate of children excluded under the category ‘other’ and highlights how the North East accounted for 70% of the top 10 local authorities that assigned the reason ‘other’ for fixed period exclusions in 2017/18.