Behaviour in Schools: Addressing the Critics

The Department for Education’s recent survey found that seven minutes out of every 30 are now lost to disruption in classrooms, equivalent to 45 days of missed learning for every pupil each year. With figures like these, it is no surprise that behaviour is high on the agenda, and that strong views are being expressed about what schools should do.

A common solution suggested is to simply remove misbehaving students from classrooms, or exclude them, so that staff can teach and students can learn. But is this an effective approach? Does it align with the values we hold about education, and does it create the long-term change we need in our schools?

We explore some of the most common criticisms of supportive approaches to behaviour and explain why they do not stand up to scrutiny.

Q: Why not just exclude children who misbehave so others can learn?

Research is clear. The Department for Education’s Timpson Review found that only 7 per cent of permanently excluded children achieved good passes in English and maths at GCSE, compared with more than 40 per cent of all pupils. The Education Policy Institute followed more than half a million pupils and showed that those who were suspended were twice as likely to be unemployed or not in education or training by the age of 24, and 2.5 times more likely to rely on unemployment benefits.

The picture is just as concerning when it comes to offending. A major 2024 study funded by the Youth Endowment Fund found that suspended or excluded pupils were four times more likely to self-report violent behaviour, and five times more likely to have a police record, even after accounting for wider risk factors. Research published in the British Journal of Criminology in 2025 showed that permanent exclusion increased the likelihood of receiving a custodial sentence within two years by 33 per cent.

Exclusion might appear to solve a short-term classroom issue, but the long-term impact is profound. Children who are excluded from school are less likely to gain qualifications, less likely to move into secure employment, and more likely to become involved in crime. For schools, communities, and wider society, the costs are high.

Behaviour is not something that children automatically know; it is something that must be taught, modelled, and reinforced, just like literacy or numeracy. If we do not invest in helping children learn how to regulate their emotions, manage conflict, and engage positively, we deny them the very skills they need to succeed.