“Who is losing learning?” A response to the IPPR report

This blog outlines the way in which we believe Pupil Pathway’s products can help schools and local authorities meet some of the challenges outlined in the report Who is losing learning?: The case for reducing exclusions across mainstream schools*, released in September 2024 by the IPPR and The Difference. 

The report clearly states the problem of children missing out on their education for a whole range of reasons. One of the most startling statements is:  

“Up to the Easter holidays, we estimate there has been a rise of over 20 per cent in suspensions and exclusions compared to the same time in the previous year.” 

These figures become even more worrying when a longer term perspective is taken, with just over 800,000 days lost to suspensions in 2016 rising to just under 1,600,000 in 2023. 

The report makes it very clear that “children facing the most challenges in their lives are disproportionately more likely to be losing learning,”. As well as noting this stark injustice, it also highlights the monetary impact to society with “at least £170,000 lifetime costs per child directly associated with permanent exclusion”. This figure arises from additional education and youth justice costs, alongside reduced earnings and raised unemployment. 

Over the last few years, Pupil Pathways has been working with the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham Inclusion Team to help reduce the number of permanent exclusions through our Foresight service. You can read more about this partnership and its impact in our case study. 

Foresight is a digital platform that supports schools and local authorities to collaborate more effectively to track and monitor pupils at risk of exclusion. The platform is flexible and adaptable to the varying needs of different local authorities, but is always underpinned by our 3Cs framework of collaboration, consistency and compliance. Read on to find out more about how Foresight can address the concerns highlighted in the “Who is losing learning?” report.

Consistency 

Consistency in data is critical as vulnerable pupils often receive support from many sources, which must be recorded in order to track progress. Foresight gathers this information from all schools across the local authority (LA), as well as from LA officials and some Alternative Provision (AP) providers.  

This information becomes the corporate memory of the most vulnerable children and, in many cases, is constantly expanding.  

The report highlights the importance of this approach when it states: 

“Some forms of exclusions act as a powerful early warning system, signalling that a child needs more support. Thomson (2023) found that previous suspensions were a strong predictor of later permanent exclusions, holding other characteristics constant. “ 

This consistency means that a new supporter, perhaps a pastoral manager after a transfer to a new school, can quickly access this corporate memory and assimilate the history of the child. For example, they could see that a few schools ago, a particular intervention was successful following a similar type of incident and plan accordingly. 

It also means that those in the unenviable position of allocating very scarce resources can rapidly compare cases and can prioritise support to where it is needed most. 

When used alongside Foresight’s functionality for uploading attachments, such as care plans and case histories, the consistent data in the platform helps provide a full picture of the child, and means that all information can be gathered, accessed and monitored in one place.

Collaboration 

The supply of accessible information makes collaboration possible. Foresight can be configured to meet the needs of individual schools and local authorities. However, a typical roll out at LA level could involve the following professionals or interests: Inclusion partners; those supporting Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA); Children Missing Education; Virtual School Head (VSH); SEND Coordinator; Youth Offending Team (YOT); attendance officers; home education officers, Alternative Provision Coordinators.  

This creates a very powerful team, with each member able to monitor and share concerns. As the report states: 

“When opportunities for early intervention are missed, or services don’t exist, children go unsupported and their needs escalate.” 

Compliance

As you would expect, all Pupil Pathways products are GDPR-compliant with ISO 27001 Certification, Cyber Essentials Certification and we have developed a robust framework for the secure and legal transfer of data between schools and local authorities.  

If you would like to find out more about Foresight, please download a flyer, or get in touch with our team.

*Gill K, Brown S, O’Brien C, Graham J and Poku-Amanfo E (2024) Who is losing learning?: The case for reducing exclusions across mainstream schools, IPPR and The Difference. https://www.ippr.org/articles/who-is-losing-learning