Educational Collateral Damage: Disadvantaged Students, Exclusion and Social Justice

Why do disadvantaged students continue to get a poor deal as they progress through England’s education system? Challenging orthodox thinking about school exclusion, this book powerfully advocates for a fairer education system for disadvantaged students. It argues that the current conceptualisation of ’exclusion’ - physically removing the student from the school - is insufficient. This approach fails to recognise the layers of exclusion that these students encounter. Students can be excluded within their schools (inner exclusion), not just from school (outer exclusion). Drawing on student experiences of exclusion and the perspectives of senior leaders, including the author who is a Head of School, this book demonstrates how we can create a fairer education system for disadvantaged students.

Anton McLean is Head of School at Kingsbury High School (Brent, London), and holds a Doctorate in Education from the University of Cambridge.