Page 3 - Who is losing learning IPPR Briefing & Podcast March 2025

Briefing Documents:

Understanding and Addressing Lost Learning in Schools

Date: September 2024 / March 2025

Published by: IPPR

Executive Summary:

The provided documents highlight a significant issue of "lost learning" in the English school system,
extending beyond formal exclusions to encompass various forms of absence, internal disengagement,
and movement out of mainstream education.

The reports emphasize that this phenomenon disproportionately affects vulnerable children, particularly
those from disadvantaged backgrounds, with special educational needs, and those in contact with social
services.

The reports present data illustrating the scale of the problem, the types of students most impacted, and
the associated financial burden on local authorities.

Crucially, the reports advocate for a shift in approach, moving beyond a solely punitive view of behaviour
to a more inclusive, needs-based, and data-driven system that prioritizes early intervention, strong
relationships with families and communities, and greater oversight and accountability for all forms of lost
learning.

Key Themes and Important Ideas/Facts:

1.The Continuum of Exclusion and Lost Learning:

•Beyond Formal Exclusion: The reports introduce the concept of an "exclusions continuum," arguing
that lost learning occurs in multiple forms beyond just permanent exclusions and suspensions, which
are considered "accountable" exclusions due to formal statutory processes and data recording.

•Unaccountable Forms: Other forms of lost learning, such as internal exclusion (isolation or behavior
units), internal truancy (attending school but skipping lessons), lateness to lessons, flexi-schooling,
part-time timetables, managed moves (transfer to a new school without permanent exclusion), off-
rolling (removal from the school roll without permanent exclusion, often not in the child's best
interest), and off-site alternative provision are also significant but often less visible or formally tracked.

•Self-Exclusion: Some forms of exclusion are driven by children themselves and, at times, their families.

Quote: "Exclusion from school happens in multiple forms. There are permanent exclusions (where
children are told to leave their school and become the responsibility of the local authority) and
suspensions (where children are sent home for a fixed period). We can think of these as ‘accountable’
exclusions because they are formal statutory processes, which are recorded and published in national
datasets. We know, however, that exclusion happens in many other forms."