By Carol Nevison, the assistant programme director at Save the Children (THE GUARDIAN, 30/03/06):

Simon was permanently excluded from school. Thanks to the help of an independent advocate he has now moved to a new school, but without that support, he might have fallen out of education completely.School exclusions have increased consistently over recent years: in 2003-04, almost 10,000 children were permanently excluded from school. These figures don’t reflect the numbers of children who are informally excluded by schools, the ones that slip through the net and are not registered at any school. Neither do these figures include the children who decide to “self exclude” because they find life in mainstream school too difficult.

The effects of exclusion on these children are well known. Children who have been excluded are more likely to commit crimes and be the victims of crime, and more likely to face long-term unemployment in adulthood and to become homeless in later life. It is therefore beneficial to both these children and wider society to keep them in education.

Many of the children who are excluded are already facing difficult circumstances. Children with special educational needs, Gypsy travellers, young people in care and young carers are all overrepresented in the exclusion figures.

For those children who are experiencing problems there may not always be help available to them. Save the Children has developed an independent education advocacy service to help support these children called Ear to Listen. This isn’t about pandering to badly behaved children, it’s about finding out what is causing the problem and trying to re-engage them with the education system.

In the last year, the project has worked with more than 150 children aged five to 16 in four regions of England. Many of these children had received either permanent or fixed period exclusions from school or were at risk of exclusion from school.

Simon was referred to the project by a voluntary organisation as he had been permanently excluded from school and needed support with the governor’s hearing.

The advocate worked with Simon, his parents and the school to see if it was possible to arrange a managed move to another school rather than have a permanent exclusion on his record. The school agreed to this approach, and the advocate supported Simon throughout the process. He now looks forward to a fresh start in a new school.

Although there are other sources of help available to children at school, these are all statutory services. They are not able to represent children through the exclusion process and if they are employed by the school, do not have the ability to be independent. Ear to Listen is different – it enables the child’s views to be heard and provides unbiased support.

The exclusion system in particular can be quite confusing and not all parents have the skills or the time to support their child through it. Trained advocates are meeting a real need that is not being met by other agencies. They have an understanding of the education system and can explain it, help to prepare for meetings and provide representation.

Many children accessing the service have indicated that without the intervention of the advocate they would not have been able to continue in or get back into school. Research recently carried out by Save the Children showed that children who are excluded feel that there is no one that they can turn to and that they have very little say in the exclusion process.

Many of them do not want to be out of school and they are greatly concerned that missing out on their education will adversely affect their chances in life.

The majority of these children are looking for help in order to get back on track. But there are changes that need to take place: more alternative provision is needed combined with further flexibility in school timetables and curriculum to enable those that struggle with mainstream education to continue learning.

Exclusion is appropriate in certain cases, but schools should follow guidelines, ensure that the exclusion is properly carried out and that all children are able to access an independent advocate to support them.

Ear to Listen is entirely dependent on schools being willing to work with us, as children and young people have no right to an advocate or any kind of representation.

We are calling on the government to make an amendment to the education and inspections bill which will give children the right to appeal their own exclusion. Children in Scotland and Wales already have this right. The Advisory Centre for Education has recently reported on the case of a 17-yearold, living independently, who could not appeal his own exclusion as his parents held this right. This has to change.

If exclusion figures continue to rise and children continue to feel they are not involved in the process, more children will go missing from the education system completely. This will have serious implications for both those children and society as a whole.