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Friday, October 1, 1999 Published at 04:21 GMT 05:21 UK


Education

Hague attacks plan to cut exclusions

William Hague will call for no limit on expulsions

The government's policy of reducing exclusions has been attacked by the leader of the Conservative Party, William Hague.

At next week's Conservative Party conference, Mr Hague is expected to call for disruptive pupils to be taken out of school and sent to special units where their behaviour can be improved.

This is in opposition to the government's efforts to discourage schools from expelling pupils. National targets have been set to reduce exclusions by a third in the next two years.

Mr Hague will promise that under a Conservative government, children's education will not be disrupted by the obligation on schools to keep unruly and unmanageable pupils.

Fears over safety

As part of the Conservatives' policy of opposing "over-centralisation" in education, Mr Hague will argue that if pupils need to be expelled, then schools should have the freedom to remove them.

The government is running a �500m campaign to reduce the levels of exclusions, with schools urged to use mediation and counselling before removing pupils from the classroom.

The policy has been criticised by teachers' unions, who have said that the pressure on schools to keep disruptive pupils in class could threaten the safety of staff.

Earlier this week, the public service union, Unison, attacked the non-exclusion policy, claiming that it had led to an increase in attacks on support staff.





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