Exclusion from school or college powerfully affects lives. In this book, three practicing psychologists working with young people in inner cities explore the experiences of people who have been involved with exclusion from school: the child, the family, the excluding school and the receiving unit. Each party tells their own story so although they relate the same events, each story is different. The astonishing complexity of the lives of those excluded is illuminated.

The book is unique in bringing together different perspectives, including historical, psychodynamic and unstable systems theory. It concludes with reflections on the harm that exclusion can do and puts forward new approaches to managing difficult behavior in secondary schools.

The chapters deal with:
Exclusion—a historical perspective
Exclusion—a psychodynamic perspective
Exclusion—a perspective from Chaos Theory
Five case studies each told from the view of the family, the school, the unit and the child
Conclusions—the damage done by school exclusion and recommendations for preventing it

Excluded from School is essential reading for professionals working with children and young people who are vulnerable and at risk of exclusion: social workers, educational psychologists, teachers in secondary schools and pupil referral units, learning mentors and local authority policy makers.

Table of Contents:

Acknowledgements
About the Authors
Part 1: Context and Scope
Introduction to Part One
1) Stability, Instability and Children’s Behaviour
2) A Psychodynamic Perspective
Part 2: Case Examples
3) Letitia
4) Chip
5) Jack
6) David
7) Sam
Part 3: Conclusions
8) Themes, Observations and Applications
References
Index