The Experiences of Young Women Excluded from Mainstream Education

Government agendas and documentation (DCFS, 2008) are trying to help schools to prevent exclusion. However, the documentation does not suggest different strategies for young men and young women.

The findings of this review paper suggest that:

1. girls and boys experience of exclusions and reasons for them are different Osler (2006)
2. psychoticism as a personality trait was negatively associated with academic performance in both girls and boys, but significantly so with girls (Petrides, Chamorro-Premuzic, Frederickson and Furnham (2005)

Findings that could be seem to be relevant to male and female students alike are; Osler (2000), Miller and Burns (2000) and Osler (2006) all found that the relationship between pupil and teacher are important and perceived to be an issue which if resolved may help to prevent exclusion.

Charlton, Panting and Willis (2004) explore the positives of alternative provision, which are also found by Osler (2006) and which include greater respect shown to pupils by teachers.

This led to the empirical paper with a main research question of; What are the views of girls and young women who have been excluded (permanent and fixed term exclusions) from school of their educational experiences and exclusion?

More specifically, the following questions will be explored:

• What do the young women see as the factors leading/contributing to their exclusion?
• What might have helped the participants remain/thrive in mainstream education?
• What are their experiences of provision after they have been excluded?
• What are the implications for Educational Psychologists' (EPs') practice?

The data was gathered using semi-structured interviews with young women who had been excluded from mainstream school.

The data was then analysed using thematic analysis.

Three main themes were found:

1. "Education experiences of young women who have experienced exclusion from school"
2. "Relationships of young women who have experienced exclusion from school"
3. "Risk and Protective Factors of young women who have been excluded from school"

Implications for EP practice and further research are discussed.