Tomorrow, two months after Theresa May announced her resignation, we will find out who will be our next Prime Minister. In a leadership contest dominated by Brexit, the voices and concerns of children didn’t play much of a part. Whether it’s Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt who ends up in the top job, it doesn’t seem they have much of a plan for how to protect and promote children’s rights. To help out the new PM, we’ve put together this short to-do list with a few suggestions for how to set this right and ensure a brighter future for children and young people.
1. Reform the law on school exclusions
Every child has a right to an education which allows them to pursue their dreams and fulfill their potential. In recent years, though, there has been a rise in the number of children being permanently excluded from school. These children often end up struggling to access the education they need to progress in their lives, and many end up stuck in Pupil Referral Units. These lack the educational standards of mainstream schools, and children there often fall prey to criminal exploitation and get funnelled into a life of crime.
What is even more shocking about this situation is that it often proves impossible to overturn unfair exclusions. The independent panels where parents can go to contest exclusions currently don’t have the power to reinstate a child in education – even if they find an exclusion to be unlawful! This is particularly concerning when we consider, as was reported in the recent school exclusions review by Edward Timpson, that exclusions disproportionately affect children from Black and Minority Ethnic backgrounds, and those with special educational needs and disabilities.
