The research was commissioned in October 2006 by England’s Department for Education and Skills in response to a recommendation in the report to government of the Practitioners’ Group on School Behaviour and Discipline (DfES, 2005a). Concerned about the quality of education for pupils with challenging behaviour, the report recognised that they were sometimes permanently excluded from (removed from the school roll of) the specialist educational provision that was supposed to address their needs – special schools, Pupil Referral Units (PRUs) and other alternative educational provision, such as tailored ‘packages’ of support often including college placements plus work experience. PRUs are educational establishments that were intended to provide a short-term placement for a wide variety of pupils out of school for a range of reasons (DCSF, 2008), including those excluded from school. The objective of the research was ‘to identify and explore the routes, destinations and outcomes of young people who had been permanently excluded from a PRU or a special school for pupils with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties (BESD)’. The researchers broadened this to cover permanent exclusion from any special school as placement in these schools is contingent on many factors and we were keen not to miss relevant pupils with challenging behaviour. The specific research questions were: • What are the histories and family contexts of these young people? • What events and processes led to the permanent exclusion? • What was the range of other educational provision available for them at that point? • Where did they go to be educated after a permanent exclusion? • How appropriate was that placement in meeting their needs? • What planning was done for transitions? Our theoretical framework for analysis of the qualitative data has been deductive analysis (predetermined themes) and inductive analysis (emergent themes arising from the interviewees). Our interpretation of the findings has been influenced by scholars who have questioned the traditional ways in which educational research has represented complex social realities (Smith, 2007; Law, 2004; Griffiths & Macleod, 2008). We have sought to retain within the reporting the messiness of these young people’s educational journeys (Pirrie & Macleod, forthcoming) and to highlight disjuncture between policy and practice. We know that policy and practice around the education of pupils with challenging behaviour varies across Europe (Munn, Lloyd & Cullen, 2000) and we invite discussion of what the English system can learn from other European systems.

First, we established how many pupils in 2005-06 had been permanently excluded from specialist provision - special schools and Pupil Referral Units. We sampled in three regions of England that had reported the highest levels of permanent exclusions in 2004-05. The survey was sent to all special schools (N=634) and Pupil Referral Units (N=183) in these regions. From a response rate of 61% (n=113) for PRUs and 57% (n=366) for special schools, we obtained information about 56 permanently excluded pupils. Second, we negotiated, through a process of opt-in consent, the involvement of 28 of these young people in the research. We then conducted semi-structured interviews usually with the young person, a parent or carer, and a range of professionals involved with them but sometimes with only one of these key participants. Follow-up semi-structured interviews were held over a period of time, in person or by telephone

To date (Feb 2009) we have submitted two Interim Reports to government. We will present final results at the ECER Conference. These will cover themes related to all the research questions, including: • histories and family contexts - individual and family factors, patterns of experience • events and processes leading to permanent exclusion – violence against staff and/or peers; inappropriate placements; inadequately run and managed schools • range of other educational provision available for them at that point – variety and uneven distribution of types of provision • where these young people were educated after a permanent exclusion – time out of education, variety of placements; number of subsequent placements; extent to which participants and their parents had any choice regarding placement. • appropriateness of these placement in meeting their needs - how this is assessed; success factors • planning for and experiences of transitions – positive and negative experiences