Exploring context, factors and approaches to educational exclusions and absences

This research will explore the variation between schools and local authorities in their policies and practice in relation to temporary exclusions and authorised/unauthorised absence, in a natural policy experiment using linked longitudinal administrative data.

The research

This project examines factors including:

• the variation between schools and local authorities in their policies and practice in relation to temporary exclusions and authorised/unauthorised absences
• the role of family circumstances including material poverty and associated factors (e.g. unemployment, disability) on exclusions and absences
• the impact of absences and exclusions on young people’s educational outcomes and post-school destinations.

The data

This project aims to link and analyse:

• Education data: school census, SQA qualifications, absence, exclusions and school leaver destinations
• Health datasets: Prescribing Information System (PIS) and Scottish Morbidity Records (SMR) 
• 2001 & 2011 Census.

Research team

Project lead: Professor Morag Treanor, Lee Williamson, Silvia Behrens and Patricio Troncoso. 

Publications, outputs and media coverage

• June 2022 - Freedom of Information request on school meal debt processes
• Sept 2022 - Poverty, parental work intensity and child emotional and conduct problems
• November 2022 - Universal Credit Deductions for Households with Children Report Briefing
• November 2022- Presentation : Universal Credit Deductions for Households with Children by Scottish Local Authority
• Dec 2022 - Methods for analysing the relationship between poverty, parental work intensity, child emotional symptoms and conduct
• June 2023 - How public debt and arrears are experienced by low-income families
• Sept 2023 - The Indivisibility of Parental and Child Mental Health and Why Poverty Matters
• Nov 2023 - Data Explained: Exploring context, factors and approaches to educational exclusions and absences
• Aug 2024 - Data Insight: Understanding exclusions in Scottish secondary schools
• Aug 2024 - Infographic: Understanding exclusions in Scottish secondary schools
• 17 June 2025 - Households with a Disability and Lone Parent Families and the impact of Public Debt and Arrears
• November 2025 - NEWS - Women more likely than men to be in poverty due to public debt
• May 2026 - Paper: Predictors of authorised, unauthorised and persistent absence among secondary school pupils in Scotland
• June 2026 - DATA INSIGHTS - Understanding factors linked to school absence in Scotland
• Aug 2026 - Article in European Journal of Special Needs Education : Early ASN identification and trajectories of school absence in Scotland