One in Five Students in England Is Being Separated from the Classroom
The practice of “internal exclusion” used in secondary schools across the United Kingdom has become a subject of growing debate, as it is seen to be effectively removing a significant proportion of students from the classroom environment. New data shows that in schools using this method, around 18 percent of pupils are isolated from their classmates at least once each year.
According to figures compiled by The Key Group from the Arbor school information system, 18.4 percent of the 856,000 students enrolled in 762 secondary schools during the 2024–2025 academic year experienced internal exclusion at least once. This rate has remained largely unchanged over the past three years. In primary schools, the figure stood at 2.16 percent, while in special schools it reached 7.43 percent.
Although the UK Department for Education states that removal from the classroom and isolation should be considered a “serious sanction” and used only after all other behaviour management strategies have been tried, the practice is not monitored at a national level.
Parents, however, report that the measure can have severe psychological effects on children. Some families say their children felt “imprisoned” or like “the rejected child” after being isolated, and in some cases, pupils even stopped speaking altogether. A study by the University of Manchester found that students who are eligible for free school meals, who have special educational needs, or who come from ethnic minority backgrounds are more likely to be placed in isolation.