Work package B3
Students’ and families’ experiences of formal, informal and illegal exclusion in the political economies of the four UK jurisdictions
Little is known, from the perspective of young people and their families, about the processes leading to exclusion or the processes that follow, particularly decisions that are taken to ensure that young people receive an education outside of mainstream schooling or that they make the transition back to formal education. This work package will seek to address this through the participation of children and young people with experience of exclusion who will work collaboratively with us in determining what gets asked, which methods are used and how the data is interpreted and reported.
In 2016, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child identified the need for children and young people to participate in decision-making. We share this commitment and will work with advisory groups of children and young people. Young People’s Research Advisory Groups (YPRAGs) have been established to co-design the research instruments to use with young people, and offer their own interpretation of findings once the data has been analysed.
The research questions asked will be determined in collaboration with the YPRAGs but key features of ‘fairness’ through a child rights lens are likely to include children and young people’s, and their families’ experiences of and perceptions as to whether and/or the extent to which: students and their families were informed about and understood what was happening; their views were sought and taken seriously in the decisions that were made; they were treated without bias or discrimination; the child or young person’s best interests were considered as a primary consideration; they were given appropriate and accessible advice and guidance; and they consider the outcome to be fair and how, if at all, that was linked to the process they experienced. Given the complex digitally mediated nature of everyday life and learning, how new technologies shape young people’s and parents’/carers’ experience of exclusion and how online information seeking and communication shape interactions with schools and other key actors will also be included within this work package.