Exclusion rates in UK schools higher for black Caribbean, mixed-race students

London, Mar 25 (FN Bureau) Mixed-raced and black Caribbean students are experiencing exclusion rates up to six times higher than their white peers in some schools in England, a study published on Thursday by The Guardian newspaper has found. According to the analysis, while fixed-term exclusion rates nationwide for black Caribbean students are 10.4 percent, compared with 6 percent of white British students, the Department for Education data suggests that in many areas of the country, the racial disparity is far higher than the headline rate.

The paper said that in Cambridgeshire, for example, the fixed-term exclusion rate for black Caribbean pupils was more than six times higher, while in the London boroughs of Brent, Harrow and Haringey, the rate was more than five times higher. Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children were also excluded at much higher rates, the study added. Exclusions are disciplinary measures teachers are entitled to apply on discretional grounds and usually last up to three days. The fixed-term rate is the total number of exclusions as a proportion of the headcount and includes instances where multiple suspensions were given to one student over the course of a year.

“Exclusions essentially criminalise children, and disproportionately impact on the poorest and most vulnerable. Children that, when excluded, do not have the socioeconomic means of buffering against the dangers of being out of school,” Nicholas Treloar, a researcher at the race equality think tank Runnymede Trust, is quoted as saying. The expert blamed government-imposed targets and the constant pressure from the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills for the higher exclusion rates. In related articles in this edition of The Guardian, teachers and students of black and mixed-race backgrounds also spoke of the systemic and sometimes overt racism they have suffered in the UK education system.