Schools urged to use volunteers to tackle educational exclusion

Following the publication of the think-tank's report into educational exclusion, Gavin Poole told CYP Now that voluntary sector organisations could be better placed to help schools tackle truancy and exclusions than local authority-run services.

"The most progressive and supportive local authorities and the most forward-thinking and visionary school leaders are investing in voluntary sector provision, because they recognise that can provide a really good level of support to their school, which up until now may have cost the state more to provide," he said.

Cutting welfare

Among a number of recommendations to tackle exclusion, the CSJ report No Excuses proposes cutting welfare payments to parents who refuse to support improvements to their child's behaviour at school. This echoes calls from Prime Minister David Cameron earlier this month to cut benefits for parents of persistent truants.

"Head teachers say there must be some sort of mechanism to compel parents to engage with their children's education," Poole said. "It could be a deduction from welfare payments, it could be a fine; all options must be considered if parents consistently refuse to participate in the education of their child."

But Guy Halley, president of the National Association of Social Workers in Education (NASWE), said there is no evidence to prove that financial penalties stop truancy.

"The emphasis on punitive measures is disappointing given the huge amount of evidence we now have on underlying causes and early intervention," he said.

Halley added that cuts to education welfare services are already affecting schools' ability to address the fundamental causes of truancy.

Alison Ryan, education policy adviser at the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, argued that punitive responses to truancy make children even less likely to engage with school. "Just cutting benefits is going to exacerbate the problem because you'll give that family a whole new set of problems without any support to help them to make changes."

John Chowcat, general secretary at the children's services union Aspect, claimed that education welfare services provide exactly the integrated approach that is needed to deal with truancy and exclusion: "Education welfare services have masses of practical experience that we should be drawing on."

Aspect is teaming up with NASWE and the Association for Education Welfare Management to campaign against local cuts.

PROPOSALS TO COMBAT TRUANTING

• Prime Minister David Cameron has charged the government's social policy review team with considering cutting the benefits of parents of persistent truants
• The No Excuses report by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) into educational exclusion argued that parents who refuse to engage with support to improve their children's behaviour should also have their benefits cut
• Currently, a pupil has to miss 20 per cent of lessons to be labelled a "persistent absentee"
• The Department for Education (DfE) plans to lower this to 15 per cent to encourage schools to tackle the problem
• According to the DfE, 184,000 pupils miss 20 per cent of lessons a year, but more than 430,000 pupils miss 15 per cent