Are two of the main planks of the Government's policy towards children incompatible? Children's minister Margaret Hodge seems to think not - she told a conference last week that exclusion can only be eradicated if children do better at school (News, 31 March).
On the one hand, local education authorities are being told to help in the social inclusion agenda by engaging with their communities and having regard to the educational attainment of looked-after children.
But the flip side of the coin is the duty to improve standards - and that means improving schools' positions on league tables. From the rhetoric of the Government, it would seem this duty is the priority.
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