School exclusion policy in Scotland: Investigating policy levers, drivers and warrants

This paper reports findings from a review of school exclusion policy and legislation in Scotland, conducted as part of a comparative study of school exclusion across the four UK jurisdictions by the Excluded Lives research group. Drawing on a range of policy sources, this paper adopts Hyatt’s (2013) framework to contextualise school exclusion policy through an examination of policy drivers, levers and warrants. In doing so, this paper explores how over time post-devolution, there has been a move from a focus on children and young people’s “misbehaviour” that is perceived to be “aggressive” and “anti-social” to a focus on “distressed behaviours” and restorative and relationship- based approaches to preventing school exclusion. This review of the drivers, levers and warrants that underpin school exclusion policy responses therefore provides a critical assessment of the role of legislation and policy in driving the long-term and sustained reduction in official school exclusion numbers in Scotland.