The repetition of exclusion

Special educational needs will be a thing of the past (Her Majesty's Inspector of Education Mike Gibson, Addressing the National Association of Special Educational Needs Conference, 2004) The strain imposed by social inclusion in some of our schools is in danger of becoming a time bomb waiting to explode unless properly resourced ... we all want inclusion for all young people in Scotland, including asylum seeker children, so that they to can look forward positively to the future. However, that future inclusion which all politicians are happy to sign up to and pay lip service to comes at a price. And in too many schools at the present time that price is the health and well-being of Scottish teachers ... disruptive pupils may be a minority, but they are a growing minority. Now is the time to say enough is enough. This trend must be reversed. These pupils will not be included in mainstream provision unless their behaviour can be guaranteed. All schools must be given the ability to exclude the disruptive (Douglas Mackie, Educational Institute of Scotland Presidential Address, 2004).