Pupil referral units 'damage' children's wellbeing

His report The Right To Learn found PRUs were blighted by poor attendance and high exclusion rates, with staff unable to manage poor behaviour and bullying, which was putting children’s safety at risk.

Through interviews with young people and education professionals he found that for some, “attending a pupil referral unit actually has a negative impact on their wellbeing”.

Other findings were that more effort was needed at a local and Welsh government level to address the stigma towards PRUs, which were too often seen as a “dumping ground” for schools and councils to reduce their exclusion figures.

Problems accessing training and having enough staff to deal with pupils with complex needs were other issues.

Keith Towler, the Welsh children’s commissioner, said: “Staff at these establishments have told me they feel very isolated from new initiatives and good practice and are seen as a dumping ground for disadvantaged learners. They suggest there’s poor dissemination of information about curriculum development, difficulties in recruiting teaching staff, difficulties in securing quality alternative and vocational provision.”

The best PRUs he visited were those that had a strong focus on working in partnership with health, social care and youth justice professionals and created “individualised packages of learning”. 

He added: “If we’re to see consistent good practice in PRUs, the status needs to be lifted from one which describes it as a ‘Cinderella service’ to one that recognises its contribution to ensuring that all children and young people achieve their full potential in education.”

Towler is calling on the Welsh government to carry out an assessment of how well PRUs are tackling bullying and issue new guidance with a greater focus on sharing good practice and improving pupils’ wellbeing.

A Welsh government spokesman said: “We know that good practice exists in PRUs in Wales but the challenge is to mainstream that good practice to help young people back into mainstream education. We are now working to implement the recommendations arising from this piece of work.”

According to latest figures, 574 pupils were enrolled in Wales’s 41 PRUs in 2012/13.