Alternative education provision and offending

Why we funded this 

Over the past decade the number of children permanently excluded from schools in England more than doubled. Over this period the number of children attending pupil referral units has fallen, whilst the number of children attending other forms of alternative educational provision has increased significantly, with changes in the regulations allowing for the growth in number of unregistered alternative provision settings. Research has consistently shown that children excluded from education and who attend alternative education provision are more likely to be offend. This is unsurprising given the range of behavioural challenges faced by many of these children. However, little is known about exactly where children go following exclusion, what determines where they go, and the extent different forms of alternative education provision increase or decrease the risks of future offending. 

What are the main research questions 

The aim of this research is to explore where children go after being permanently excluded and the potential link this has to future offending. 

The main questions this project sets out to answer, are: 

• What are the destinations of children following permanent exclusion from school, including the types of alternative education provision they’ve attend, and how has this changed over time?  

• What are the differences in the characteristics of children that attend different types of alternative education provision? 

• What’s the relationship between offending outcomes and type of alternative education provision attended.  

What the analysis involves 

This project is using data from National Pupil Database linked to the Police National Computer. This provides data on all children in English state schools, their experiences of exclusions, and any offending resulting in a conviction or caution. The data will be used to track where children go following an exclusion (i.e. whether they return to mainstream settings, pupil referral units, other forms of alternative education provision, or go missing from the education system). The project will also explore the feasibility of alternative approaches at assessing the causal impact of different forms of alternative education provision on future offending. 

Please refer to the analytical protocol for more details. 

Key conclusions 

This project is still ongoing. Please return again for future updates and findings