The role of institutions in pathways from educational to social exclusion: Documenting the life course of 300 marginalised primary school children in Queensland.

Abstract

Engaging social and professional communities around students with high educational needs has come to be seen as an active protective process for these students. This paper examines the role of state and local agencies (education, health, families, communities, and criminal justice) in documenting but not altering student trajectories towards life failure. When the most marginalised and disadvantaged youth in our communities are the primary target for exclusionary practice in education around the western world, then there has been little impetus to coordinate service delivery between school systems and other services in order to provide stable ongoing supports for progress through education. A detailed investigation of the socioeducational trajectories of 300 individuals excluded from Queensland primary schools between 1973 and 2004 examined data gathered on these children before and after a period spent in a special school setting for intervention in behaviour and learning. This study has revealed extensive record keeping of a downward spiral in the lives of these children but little sharing of this information. Case-by-case treatment of information from child to child, from time to time, and from setting to setting has been a barrier to effective decision-making and to systemic support for a better trajectory towards social inclusion.