Read our latest blog from Dr Haley Sneed, CYCJ Participation Advisor, who reflects on her work with children and young people and the patterns which emerged from conversations during group work, and the unexpected topics and themes that connected different groups.
Over the last six months, I’ve facilitated participation and engagement work with around 150 children and young people across multiple locations in Scotland. This blog reflects conversations that took place across small, facilitated groups, usually ranging from 4 to 10 young people at a time. Working in smaller groups was intentional. It created space for young people to speak freely, challenge one another, and build on shared experiences. As a facilitator, this also allowed me to hear patterns emerge across groups, rather than isolated or singular accounts. When the same words, metaphors, frustrations, and hopes recur across places and sessions, they stop being anecdotal and begin to function as practice‑based evidence.
These sessions were not designed solely around school exclusion. Young people were asked about justice, fairness, safety, school, and community. However, school exclusion often came up. What young people shared was not just about being excluded from school. It was about being judged early, unheard often, and carrying the effects of exclusion long after it formally ended. This aligns closely with a substantial body of research showing that school exclusion is not a neutral disciplinary tool, but one that operates within, and often deepens, existing inequalities, particularly for young people with additional support needs (ASN), those living in poverty, care‑experienced young people, and those already in contact with the justice system (McCluskey et al., 2019; Duffy et al., 2025; King, 2026).
Inequality, Labelling, and Being “Written Off”
Across multiple groups, in different towns, young people spoke about exclusion as the endpoint of a longer process of judgment. Often, that process began before any specific behaviour was discussed. In one session, a young person said:
“Once you’ve got a reputation, that’s it.”
This wasn’t challenged or debated. Instead, other young people immediately added:
“They already think you’re going to be misbehaved.”
“You get blamed by the same teachers, even when it’s not you.”
“They see me as a problem, not a kid.”
I heard variations of this across multiple groups, sometimes using identical language. Young people talked about being assessed not just as individuals, but through family reputation, siblings, where they lived, or past incidents that never seemed to fade. One young person explained:
“No one will give me a chance. They see me as my brother. I’m meant to live up to that.”
Exclusion was not described as resetting expectations. It was described as confirming them:
“Once you’re labelled, you just end up proving them right.”
This strongly reflects research showing that exclusion reproduces inequality through everyday school practices, particularly for children with ASN who are frequently misunderstood rather than supported (King, 2026), and through local political economies that link behaviour to class, place, and family identity (Duffy et al., 2025). As McAra and McVie (2010) have shown, these early institutional responses can shape longer‑term pathways into marginalisation and justice system contact.
School Without Voice
Across sessions, young people spoke about school as a place where they had little voice, not only when things went wrong, but as a default experience.
“School is suffocating. We don’t have a say.”
“People think they’re in charge and what we say doesn’t matter.”
At the same time, school occupied the majority of their lives:
“Our lives are just school, but we’re so much more than that.”
When exclusion happened in this context, it did not feel proportionate or supportive. It felt like removal from one of the few spaces where young people could belong, however imperfectly. Many described this sense of disconnection continuing well beyond the exclusion period:
“Every time I come back, they assume I’m going to mess up again.”
This matters because a strong evidence base shows that school belonging acts as a protective factor, closely linked to mental health, engagement, behaviour, and long‑term outcomes (Korpershoek et al., 2020; Allen et al., 2024). Young people’s accounts illustrated what happens when that belonging is fragile and how exclusion can fracture it further.
“They Assume We Have No Feelings”: Emotional Harm and Shame
Facilitating these sessions, what struck me most was how calmly young people described experiences that were, in reality, deeply distressing. In one group:
“They assume we have no feelings.”
In another:
“Teachers make me feel embarrassed. Singled out. Judged.”
Then, in a different session, a young person shared:
“I was excluded, and I went into a massive depression. I couldn’t even see my friends. I was so isolated.”
There was immediate recognition from others in the room. No disbelief. No surprise. The emotional language young people used, including shame, embarrassment, fear, and isolation, mirrors qualitative research on school exclusion across the UK (Thomson & Pennacchia, 2016; McCluskey et al., 2019; Duffy et al., 2025). More recently, quantitative evidence has linked exclusion to increased risk of serious violence, particularly when exclusion compounds existing inequalities (Cornish & Brennan, 2025). What young people add is clarity: exclusion is not emotionally neutral. Its impacts linger, shape self‑belief, and influence how safe young people feel returning to school.
“We Don’t Do Things for No Reason”: Behaviour as Communication
Across small groups and settings, young people consistently rejected the idea that behaviour is random or meaningless.
“We don’t do things for no reason.”
“Just because I’ve got a problem doesn’t mean I’m the problem.”
Young people talked about acting out when overwhelmed, stressed, dealing with things at home, or feeling ignored:
“Teachers think I’m being disruptive, but actually I’ve got stuff going on and can’t think straight.”
One young person described the pattern they often experienced:
“Something happens, I get angry, I withdraw, they assume, I retaliate, I get excluded.”
Punitive responses were widely viewed as ineffective:
“Punishment doesn’t stick. It just makes us resist.”
This aligns directly with systematic reviews showing that young people experience punitive behaviour management as unjust and alienating, and that relational approaches are more effective in supporting regulation and engagement (Jones et al., 2023; Jones et al., 2024).
Exclusion as Risk: Losing Routine, Structure, and Safe Adults
Despite frustrations with school, many young people described it as a place of routine and relative safety, particularly in communities impacted by poverty, substance use, and violence.
“It’s hard to have hope when your area’s full of drugs, prison, and violence.”
Exclusion removed that routine:
“When you get sent home, there’s nothing else.”
“There’s nowhere to go.”
Young people linked exclusion to isolation, increased time on the streets, and pressure from peers. From a contextual safeguarding perspective, this is significant. Research shows that removing young people from protective environments can heighten vulnerability to exploitation and harm (Firmin, 2020). Cornish and Brennan (2025) further caution that exclusion can accelerate, rather than reduce, risk.
“No One Explains It Properly”: Understanding the Process
Many young people said they did not understand why exclusion decisions were made or what would happen next.
“They talk about you, not to you.”
“No one explains it properly.”
Young people wanted clear, accessible explanations, time to prepare, and someone they trusted to help them understand. Lack of information was described as frightening and destabilising, a finding echoed in qualitative research on exclusion processes (McCluskey et al., 2019; Duffy et al., 2025).
Returning to School: “Awkward”, “Hostile”, “Uncomfortable”
Across many groups, reintegration was described as one of the hardest parts.
“Every time I come back, they expect me to fail.”
“It’s awkward. Everyone’s watching you.”
Young people spoke about feeling unwelcome, over‑monitored, or sensing that staff did not want them back. Without deliberate relationship repair, exclusion simply reset conditions for further conflict, a well‑documented pattern in research on alternative education and reintegration (Thomsoresetsn & Pennacchia, 2016).
Why These Voices Matter
Young people were not arguing for the removal of boundaries or accountability. They were clear about wanting fairness, understanding, and dignity. Across around 150 voices, in small groups, across places, a consistent message emerged:
Exclusion as it is currently experienced often deepens inequality, damages belonging, and increases risk. When placed alongside existing research, these young people’s words do not challenge the evidence; they reinforce it. Listening to young people does not weaken schools or systems. It strengthens them by aligning policy and practice with lived experience, rights, and what we already know works.
The post “Once You’ve Got a Reputation, That’s It”: What Young People Told Me About School Exclusion, Inequality, and Belonging appeared first on Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice.
Source: Raising Youth Justice – Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice Read More
