English schooling and little e and big E exclusion: what’s equity got to do with it?

Mills, Martin; Thomson, Pat

Abstract

It seems uncontentious that policy development should be informed by evidence, and that researchers should be engaged to assess available evidence. In this paper, we tell the story of a Rapid Evidence Assessment (REA) about school exclusion, a task intended to inform a ‘root and branch’ policy review. Drawing on Carol Bacchi’s ‘What’s the problem?’ approach, we use the project brief and the changing texts that we wrote to show that, while we began reviewing literature with a generous definition of exclusion, our focus progressively narrowed to encompass only the literatures that fitted with the pre-existing policy definition. Our story shows that a need to focus on big E Exclusion policy eliminated insights about little e exclusion, in particular how wider social relations and the school itself were implicated. The case raises critical questions about how policy evidence about exclusion is produced – and limited.

Citation

Mills, M., & Thomson, P. (2022). English schooling and little e and big E exclusion: what’s equity got to do with it?. Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties, 27(3), 185-198. https://doi.org/10.1080/13632752.2022.2092273

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 22, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Feb 13, 2023
• Publication Date: 2022
• Deposit Date: May 5, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 1, 2024
• Journal: Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties
• Print ISSN: 1363-2752
• Electronic ISSN: 1741-2692
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 27
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 185-198
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13632752.2022.2092273
• Keywords: School exclusion; alternative provision; policy making; policy problem representation
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/7503510
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13632752.2022.2092273
• Additional Information: Peer Review Statement: The publishing and review policy for this title is described in its Aims & Scope.; Aim & Scope: http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?show=aimsScope&journalCode=rebd20; Published: 2023-02-13