Suspended Pupils Twice as Likely to Be out of Work or Education by 24: Report

The report comes amid the rise in the suspension rates since the COVID-19 lockdowns, with 786,961 suspensions taking place in the 2022/2023 school year.

School pupils walking in a file photo on Jan. 26, 2012. David Jones/PA

People who were suspended during secondary school are twice as likely to not be in education, training, or employment by the age of 24, a report has found.

Pupils who had been suspended at least once were also 2.1 times as likely to not achieve a Level 3 qualification like A-Levels by 19, according to a study by the Education Policy Institute (EPI) published on Tuesday.

In identifying what the EPI called the “suspension employment gap,” the study also found that suspended pupils were 2.5 times as likely to receive out-of-work benefits and were 2.7 times as likely to be on health-related benefits by the age of 24.

The study, commissioned by youth education charity Impetus, said that the association between suspension and outcomes in early adulthood may be indirect, but noted that pupils’ attainment at GCSE “plays a significant role in the relationship between suspension and outcomes.”

“Whilst these findings cannot show that suspensions cause poor outcomes, related research shows that missing even a few days of school is associated negatively with attainment. Meanwhile, there is growing quasi-experimental evidence suggesting school exclusion is causally related to poor outcomes in adulthood including lower earnings and worse health,” the report explained.

Rise in Suspension Rates

“While it is not a surprise that suspended pupils get worse outcomes, we now know how much worse these outcomes are, and can put a number on the ‘employment grades gap’ for the first time,” Carlie Goldsmith, senior policy advisor at Impetus, said.

Goldsmith said that while suspensions are sometimes necessary, supporting pupils struggling to engage in an educational setting must be a priority for the government, “given the long-term consequences for both the individual and to wider society.”

“We should aim for lower exclusion levels not simply for the sake of it, but because it would be a sign of a more effective education system for pupils and teachers alike,” she said.

The study comes as England saw record-high suspension and permanent exclusion rates, with suspensions rising by more than a third in one year.

Government figures published in July for the school year 2022/2023 saw 786,961 suspensions—where a pupil is excluded from school for a fixed period of time—up from 578,280 the year before and an increase of 36 percent.

Permanent exclusions—when a pupil is expelled and no longer allowed to return to that school—saw an even steeper increase, rising 44 percent from 6,495 in 2021/2022 to 9,376 in the following year.

A DfE spokesperson described that the recent figures on school suspensions as shocking, saying the government was “determined to get to grips with the causes of poor behaviour: we’ve already committed to providing access to specialist mental health professionals in every secondary school, introducing free breakfast clubs in every primary school, and ensuring earlier intervention in mainstream schools for pupils with special needs.”

Post-Lockdown Behavioural Issues

The rise in exclusions and suspensions came amid warnings that schools were facing an increase in behavioural issues following the COVID-19 lockdowns.

A report written by academics and funded by the Nuffield Foundation, an education think tank, in April said that not only did lockdown-induced school closures cause significant and long-lasting damage to learning, but also deprived children of in-person support and social interaction.

The report said that teachers had reported “greater behaviour problems in classrooms since the pandemic,” the think tank adding that by its estimates, there has been a “significant decline in the socio-emotional skills for successive Covid cohorts.”

Last year, the National Governance Association (NGA) said that “aftershocks” from the lockdowns continued to affect schools. School leaders said that behavioural challenges had seen a sharp increase, with 68 percent of respondents to an NGA survey noting an increase in worsening pupil behaviour over the previous 12 months. Governing boards also noted a rise in concerns over mental health and self-harming among children.

‘Ghost Children’

The post-lockdown era has also contributed to the rise in the number of “ghost children”—pupils who are persistently absent.

Government figures from March showed that the number of unauthorised absences from schools in England increased in 2022/2023 and was nearly double the rate from before the lockdowns, when the government closed schools and children went to remote learning.

Speaking to NTD’s “British Thought Leaders” programme in February, journalist and author Harriet Sergeant said that the number of ghost children had more than doubled after the lockdowns.

Sergeant said that there were two kinds of children that schools were struggling to get back into the classroom: those that are too anxious and those that are too angry.

The latter group, she said, are “so angry and aggressive they’re out on the street, they’re joining gangs, and they’ve just dropped out completely.”

PA Media contributed to this report.