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Database of Good Practice - TreeHouse - Exclusion record

Case Study - TreeHouse - Exclusion record

Organisation:

TreeHouse

Website:

www.treehouse.org.uk

Project/Scheme Name:

Exclusion record

Categories:

• Child Development, Education and Well-being
• Education (including extended schools, supporting the Primary-Secondary Transition; supporting 16-18 year olds into employment; parental support in development)
• Parental Support

Brief Description:

Children with autism and other special educational needs are excluded from school more than any other groups of children and young people, mainly due to teachers not being able to differentiate between disobedience and behaviour related to their disability.

Exclusions have a massive impact on parents' ability to work. In a survey almost half of respondents told us that their schools practice of excluding their children affected their ability to hold down employment. 85% of these parents' children had experienced informal exclusion, where parents are called up in the middle of the day and asked to take their child home. Because this practice is illegal, there are no formal procedures for recording the information. However, 55% of respondents' children had experienced informal exclusion.

Parent groups who work with TreeHouse, the national charity for autism education, devised an exclusion record form, which they ask teachers to fill in each time they ask parents to take their children out of class.

Anyone is welcome to use the form, which you can download the form here:
http://www.treehouse.org.uk/files/treehouse-corp/files/D_16_Parent_s_exclusion_record.pdf

Outcomes:

The exclusion record form has proven effective in making teachers aware that this informal exclusion is illegal, and by asking the teacher to fill in the form, they are encouraging the teacher to question the practice.

At the same time, parents are able to compile data and submit it to their local authority to make them aware of the issue. Several local authorities have now taken action to curb this practice, while this constructive approach to campaigning has helped the parent groups develop a productive working relationship with their local authority.

Running Time:

01/05/2006 to 01/08/2015 - running for 1592 days.

Cost

No cost incurred

Boroughs:

• Ealing
• Havering

Additional Information:

The TreeHouse Parent Support Project worked with parent groups in 8 local authority areas across the country, including Ealing and Havering in London. However, the issues faced by children with autism regarding exclusion are similar in all local authority areas across the country.

You can find out more about the project here:
http://www.treehouse.org.uk/promoting-change/campaigns/parent-support-project-psp
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