PREMIUM: The 2023–24 permanent exclusion figures Part 1

For as long as I’ve been writing about permanent exclusions in England, commentators have consistently found a way to imply that the level of exclusions in England’s schools is at a record-breaking high. However, in the most recent annual figures, it might finally be true.

The rate of permanent exclusions has varied over time. This is not a remorseless rise; this is a massive shift that has happened only since Covid. The DfE website distorts this somewhat by referring back to a low point and claiming that:

Although permanent exclusions were relatively stable before the pandemic, the longer time trend over the past 10 years has been a gradual increase, from a low of 0.06 in 2012/13 to 2013/14.

We do have figures from before 2006/7, although they are raw numbers rather than percentages.1 They indicate that exclusions are not at their highest level ever, but are at their highest level of the 21st century

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