excluded

Violent, disruptive pupils who don't see the point of going to school at all often do worse in their exams claims a new report published at the weekend. Thugs who are excluded from mainstream schools are less likely to achieve the same GCSE grades as their peers. According to the report this situation is entirely the fault of the schools that exclude them.

Figures in the report show that only 1% of pupils who are sent to 'disruptive units' get 5 GCSE grades A*-C compared to 70% in the general school population. "Separating this unfortunate souls from their peers" said Petunia Handwringer, one of the authors of the report, "is clearly having an adverse effect on their chances of a proper education. Not only does the exclusion demotivate them but it consigns them to a classroom full of pupils who's only goal is to disrupt their educational opportunities. If the discrimination against these underprivileged students continues then the differential between them and their peers will only increase further."

"We strongly recommend that schools should be prevented from excluding those children who are disrupting the education of the rest of their class. Instead" continued Ms Handwringer "teachers must focus more time, attention and resources in ensuring an equal outcome for all of their students. In that way the terrible disparity between results can be addressed."