School exclusions are up by more than 20%, and that’s concerning for teachers, SENCos and school leadership alike. But what can we do about it at a classroom level—and why is literacy such a large piece of the puzzle?

In the first part of this this two-part blog, we’ll be taking a look at school exclusion and why it’s such an area of concern for pupils with Special Educational Needs. In the second part, we’ll explore the challenging behaviour solutions we found as part of our work at Colmers Farm Primary School, and how reading pens can support learners toward a brighter learning future.

 

Part I: Why are we so worried about SEN, persistent disruptive behaviour, and school exclusion?

It’s a staggering, disheartening fact that over 42% of school exclusion cases are students with Special Educational Needs.

Across the 2022-2023 school year, 786,961 suspensions took place in the UK. When we crunch the numbers, that reveals to us that well over 330,000 suspensions have been handed to students with SEN – with some of those being permanent exclusions, leading to students being removed from their mainstream school setting.

One of the most common reasons for both a fixed period school exclusion and a permanent school exclusion is ‘Persistent Disruptive Behaviour’. This accounts for 48% of all reasons given for fixed period exclusion, and for 39% of reasons for permanent exclusions, meaning that there’s a whole lot of SEN students in the UK being suspended for behaviour-related reasons.

 But at its core, is it really a behavioural problem – and is the right intervention strategy more to do with the words on the page than with classroom behavioural management? Our latest case study reveals a new way of thinking about challenging or displacement behaviours and addressing the real causes of disengagement from learning.

But we should still start at the beginning. Let’s talk school exclusion for a moment:

Common consequences of school exclusion and interrupted learning

Some students who have a fixed period exclusion from school go on to rejoin their peers in the classroom and hit their targets. For many, however, that first exclusion is the beginning of a disrupted and stressful learning pathway. It can also mark a route change that leads to recurrent or permanent exclusion.

 And that’s just the beginning…

📚 A disrupted or interrupted educational journey often has consequences: research shows that students who experience a school exclusion in primary school are significantly less likely to pass their English and Maths GCSEs.

📚 Experiencing a school exclusion leads to future mental health problems too: boys who have been excluded in secondary school go on to experience higher levels of depression and anxiety.

📚 An excluded student is four times more likely to become a justice-involved individual and spend time in a secure setting than a peer who has never been excluded, entering into the school-to-prison (or ‘school-to-PRU’) pipeline.

📚 And it’s not all about potential to become a justice-involved individual, either: a school exclusion can have a number of other knock-on effects throughout a student’s later life. A pupil who has had a school exclusion is twice as likely to be NEET (not engaged in education, employment or training) by the age of 24.

Why might a student with Special Educational Needs engage in persistent disruptive behaviour?

When you can’t understand the words on the page, you can’t do the work.

But that’s the reality of classroom life for so many students who have dyslexia or other reading-related Special Educational Needs. Many feel embarrassed, want to avoid reading, or simply don’t have the tools to do what they’re being asked to do. And this gap between learner and learning is where a lot of challenging behaviour takes form, as a means of either expressing complex negative emotions or attempting to avoid the task at hand, which might feel embarrassing, isolating or impossible.

That student may then take steps to avoid the work, such as leaving their desk, distracting their peers, distracting their class teacher, or behaving in an otherwise challenging manner. It might also include behaviours that students know will get them sent out of the classroom so that the pressure is off in a more long-term way and solidified way.

Quick Facts:

Reading-related classroom events that can lead to challenging behaviour

📚 Having to wait for human support for reading and decoding

📚 Navigating paper dictionaries, and becoming distracted as a result

📚 Searching the web for help, and becoming distracted as a result

📚 Asking for help from a peer, which can result in off-task time for both students

📚 Asking for help from a teacher, who doesn’t have the bandwidth to respond to multiple requests

📚 Going without support, either due to embarrassment and undisclosed need or lack of available resources 

📚 Experiencing low self-esteem, a fixed mindset, frustration, and feeling powerless to change anything.

Part II: What the Scanning Pens team learned at Colmers Farm Primary School.

School exclusions are predicted to have risen by more than a fifth last year.That’s worrying news all around, especially when we consider that so many of those excluded students will have SEN, and when pandemic learning loss means it’s more important than ever that every student in the classroom is able to work without disruption or distress. But what can be done?

We already know that educational policy is shifting to phase out exclusions and move towards keeping vulnerable children and young people in school. And it’s also looking like it’s going to focus more on the root causes of exclusions, rather than managing challenging behaviour post-event: it’s a good thing, but one that means that teachers are going to need more and better resources when it comes to ensuring that those students with reading needs don’t fall into challenging behaviour patterns – both for their own education and for the education of those in the classroom around them.

And that’s where text-to-speech reading pens can help…

Student C's remarkable change in challenging behaviour

Colmers Farm Primary School in Birmingham wanted to maximise the impact of reading pens purchased from Scanning Pens via a reading support grant from Excelsior Multi-Academy Trust. As part of the process, we supported staff and students through implementation and training, and took a very close look at exactly how reading pens were transforming the individual learning experience for a number of students throughout the school.

We observed a remarkable change in one particular student when a reading pen was introduced to his additional reading intervention sessions. Student C struggled with challenging words in his phonics program, and would experience behavioural outbursts as he was working on his reading skills. His Learning Support Advisor spoke to us and explained that Student C would ask for help all the time, sometimes not even attempting to read words that he found challenging, and would often become disengaged or withdrawn.

But coupled with his teaching assistant’s dyslexia-friendly approach, adding a reading pen into the mix significantly increased Student C’s ability to navigate challenging words and a huge reduction in the number of behavioural outbursts. There was an evident boost in his enthusiasm for learning as literacy became more accessible and less stressful, and as he moved forward and realised that it was possible to get the support he needed in a much more independent way, changed his perception of himself as a learner.

“I can use the pen to read harder books… I want to read longer words and harder words!”

 

— Student C

Colmers Farm Primary School

The importance of being independent

This unique case study demonstrates to us that students who have access to learning are less stressed, are more able to make progress, and are able to take control of their own reading in a much more empowering way. Which is great!

But we should also take some time to understand why this has the power to beat the need for a school exclusion or other behavioural sanction for a student with special educational needs that impact reading.

It’s not just about having access to text-to-speech support and being able to define and practice the words that present a challenge (although that’s a big part of why reading pens are so successful in supporting learners toward stronger literacy skills). When it comes to managing challenging behaviour, the real bonus also comes in the form of independence, and how that makes children and young people feel about themselves as readers.

It’s all about validating their understanding immediately and independently: if you’re reliant on a teacher or a support professional, it’s easy to feel like you’re in a constant state of needing support, anxiously waiting for help, and looking to someone for approval. Your progress feels dependent on others, and you feel like there’s very little that you can do to improve the situation – but with a reading pen, you’re back in the driving seat. Forward motion now happens because you decide to make that move, and with the right tech support, you’ll solve problems that might arise.

When we add a reading pen, we’ve removed the need to constantly wait and those feelings of powerlessness from the equation by boosting their independence… and from independence comes confidence; and from confidence comes a much richer and brighter reading future.

A brighter reading future… for everyone!

C-Pen Reader 2 is a text-to-speech reading support that allows learners to listen to the words on the page, define them, practice vocabulary and pronunciation, and more!

✅ Students return to class with independent learning strategies

✅ The need for in-class human support decreases– which means huge savings for your school!

✅ A can-do mindset means student attitudes toward learning shift to become more positive

✅ Challenging and attention-seeking behaviours reduce. All students can learn uninterrupted!

✅ The classroom becomes adaptive, inclusive, and free from stigma against SEN and assistive technology.

💡Claim your FREE 30-day educator trial!

 

 

Here’s what teachers have been saying about reading pens and managing challenging behaviour...

 

“A reading pen encourages independence, raises self-esteem, and enables the children to feel included in the same learning as their peers. It has had a hugely positive impact on not only learning, but also on wellbeing because it has raised self-esteem.”

— Amy Healy, SENCO

Manor Park Primary School

“We have found reading pens invaluable for our Y5/6 children who continue to struggle with word reading, and are currently on Birmingham's Dyslexia pathway. The reading pen has enabled curriculum access and independence for the pupils, assisting with their self-esteem and confidence.

We’ve seen improvement in a Year 6 pupils' behaviour, and he coached the Year 5 pupil to use the pen when it arrived, and is a real advocate for how reading pens have opened up learning for him and made things far more accessible and less frustrating.”

— Jessica Jones, SENCO

Rednal Hill Junior School

 

...Still not certain if reading pens are right for your learners?

When your school, college or university buys reading pens from Scanning Pens, we don’t just ship out a box of tech in the post. We want to provide you with the best reading pens for your needs, support you throughout the startup process with implementation guidance and resources, and to get that tech working as hard as it can in your setting – so that it transforms reading, and heads off any reading-related school exclusion before it has the chance to happen.

☎️ Give us a call on +44 (0) 207 976 4910

📧 Email us on: ukinfo@scanningpens.com