WHAT ARE THE LONG-TERM EFFECTS OF EXCLUSION FROM SCHOOL ON STUDENTS?
Abstract
Exclusion from school removes a student from a regular school environment due to disciplinary, medical, or other reasons. Exclusion may be of different forms, including suspension or permanent exclusion. Although the goal of the expulsion of a student is to offer an opportunity for them to reflect on the behavior and change accordingly, it can be severe short-term and long-term effects (Molleda et al., 2017). For instance, short-term effects include anger, self-harm, and loneliness, while long-term effects may include alcohol and substance abuse, mental illness, and involvement in criminal activity. Therefore, this investigation explores the long-term effects of expulsion from school.
Research question/hypotheses
This investigation is guided by the following research question: What are the long-term effects of exclusion from school on students?
The research hypotheses there:
Exclusion is a short-term setback that only significantly impacts the student's long-term prospects.
Exclusion is a long-term setback that significantly impacts the student's prospects.
Aims, objectives, and purpose of the study
The aim of this investigation includes the following:
To explore the long-term and short-term effects of exclusion from schools on students.
To investigate the courses of exclusion from schools and how the problem can be addressed.
Research Methodology
Collecting data from the participants may be challenging due to the nature of investigation. For this reason, this investigation will be based on qualitative data collection and analysis method. Data will be collected using secondary approaches by looking for relevant information from past investigations and case study. The choice of this approach is the fact that it is cheap and less time consuming. However, one of the limitation of the approach is susceptibility to bias thereby affecting credibility and reliability of the data.
Key Findings
There are many studies on the long-term effects of exclusion from school on students. For example, in a cross-sectional study by Chu and Ready (2018) involving African American learners, the investigators found that exclusion from school increased the risk of mental health problems among the learners. The observation informed the findings that most participants reported that exclusion from school led to emotional and traumatic experiences for learners. Some reported experiences included loneliness, rejection, and depression (Martin-Denham, 2020). Moreover, students who are excluded from school develop anxiety disorders and depressive thoughts and may engage in addictive substance abuse problems.
Expulsion from school may also increase the risk of the victim being involved in criminal activities, particularly if they face rejection from family and society. According to Mohr-Jensen and Steinhausen (2016), students who are excluded from school are susceptible to being involved in criminal activities. The investigators argued that criminal gangs look for youths who are rejected from school or at home to recruit them into their criminal gangs. Consequently, students excluded from schools are at high risk of being involved in criminal activities for lack of positive role models, social support, and educational opportunities. As a result, they start as petty criminals and slowly graduate to hardened criminals.
One reason students are taken to school is to increase their chances of employment. Therefore, when someone is expelled from school, their employability is reduced. Schools offer students an opportunity to gain skills and qualify for a given post; thus, when expelled, they lose the opportunity to gain these essential requirements for future employment (Bäckman and Nilsson, 2016). Furthermore, when students are excluded from schools for criminal activities, the head of the institution always recommends or comments on the student's conduct. If a negative report is written about the expelled learner, then it would be difficult for them to acquire formal employment. This argument is in line with Ramsdal et al. (2018), who argued that exclusion from school could reduce the opportunities for students to develop these skills, making it harder for them to secure employment and achieve financial independence in adulthood.
In addition, students excluded from school have lower educational attainment and may be at risk of a vicious exclusion cycle. According to Ramsdal et al. (2018), students who are excluded from school miss out on crucial learning time due to their absenteeism which may lead to lower academic outcomes and reduced future career prospects. Furthermore, students excluded from one school are likely to be excluded from the following school as they develop a vicious academic and social exclusion cycle. According to Kupchik (2016), students who are excluded from one school and admitted to another struggle to catch up with their peers academically and form friendships, which leaves them isolated and lonely. They may be less likely to participate in positive educational and social activities and break school rules and regulations to be expelled.
However, school exclusion should always be teachers' last resort, as other alternative approaches, such as suspension, talking to the parents, or restorative justice, should be considered (Kupchik, 2016). Also when exclusion from school should not be discriminative, as is the case in the US, where an African American learner is thrice as likely to be excluded from school as their white counterparts (Freeman and Steidl, 2016). In general, exclusion from school should be applied in cases where the learner has committed serious offenses.
