Young peoples’ experiences of exclusion from school in the political economies of the four UK jurisdictions

The data in this article were gathered as part of a larger study of school exclusion in the four jurisdictions of the United Kingdom (UK). Key points of investigation involved attempting to understand why there were disproportionately higher official school exclusions in England, in terms of temporary and permanent exclusions, compared to the rest of the UK and an exploration of informal or unofficial forms of exclusionary practices. Education in each jurisdiction of the UK (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) is devolved and there are different legislative and policy arrangements in place. In this paper, we consider young peoples’ experiences of exclusion in what are ultimately different cultural contexts. We were minded that disability needs to be understood within the settings in which it is experienced and is thus cultural, contextual and fluid. Young people were interviewed, and vignettes illustrating experience were constructed and a coding frame was developed. We have presented the outcomes of the analysis organised by individual themes across jurisdictions. Our conclusions suggest that experience may not be as contextually labile as expected, rather that incidence was a more salient factor. Exclusion is not a pleasant experience although it is more common in some settings than others.