. 2018 Jan 9;14(1):i–216. doi: 10.4073/csr.2018.1

Table 1.

Comparative description of school exclusion in a sample of high‐ and middle‐income countries

Country	Name given	Type of exclusions	Length (for fixed exclusions)	Who makes the decision?	Legal reasons for exclusion	Prevalence ²
Australia ³ (New South Wales)	Suspension	Short suspensions	4 school days.	School Principal	Continued disobedience and aggressive behaviour	Unknown
		Long suspensions	Up to 20 school days.	School Principal	Physical violence, use or possession of prohibited weapons, firearms or knife, possession, use or supply of a suspected illegal substance, serious criminal behaviour, use a weapon, persistent or serious misbehaviour
	Expulsion	Permanent	Permanent	School Principal	In serious circumstances of misbehaviour, the principal may expel a student of any age from their school. The principal may also expel a student who is over 17 years of age for unsatisfactory participation in learning.
Canada ⁴ (Ontario)	Suspension	Short‐term Long‐term	1 to 20 school days. More than five school days are considered long‐term.	School Principal. Parents must be informed within 24 hours. All suspensions can be appealed to the school board.	Threat to inflict serious bodily harm on another person, possessing alcohol or illegal drugs, being under the influence of alcohol, swearing at a teacher or at another person in a position of authority, committing an act of vandalism that causes extensive damage to school property, or bullying.	2.76% of enrolled students (N= 2,014,407). Academic Year 2013‐2014 ⁵
	Expulsion	From school From all schools (in this case, the students must be offered alternative education)	Indefinite.	School Principal should recommend expulsion to the school board. Parents must be informed within 24 hours. All expulsions can be appealed at a tribunal.	Possessing or using a weapon, physical assault on another person that causes bodily harm requiring treatment by a medical practitioner, sexual assault, trafficking in weapons, trafficking in illegal drugs, robbery, drinking alcohol.	0.02% of enrolled students (N= 2,014,407) Academic Year 2013‐2014 ⁶
Chile ⁷	Suspension	Fixed. Implemented inside the school premises	The law does not limit the duration of fixed suspensions. Each school community issues their own disciplinary code and defines disciplinary sanctions and their duration.	Disciplinary Board	Defined for each school, but it must be used in exceptional cases	Unknown
	Expulsion			School Principal	Conduct that directly threatens the physical or psychological integrity of any member of the school community ⁸	Unknown
Colombia ⁹	Suspension	Fixed	Each school community issues their disciplinary codes and defines disciplinary sanctions and their duration. Normally fixed exclusion lasts 3 days.	Discretionary	Violation to the code of conduct	Unknown
		Definitive			Unknown
Costa Rica ¹⁰	Suspension	Fixed	Up to 8 school days.	School Principal	Not clearly stated	Unknown
		Permanent		School Board	Permanent disruptive/defiant behaviour, non‐compliance with previous sanctions, violence and aggressions towards a member of the school community, lack of moral integrity.
England ¹¹	Exclusion	Fixed (in‐school, out‐of‐school)	1‐45 days per year. After 5 days of fixed out‐of‐school exclusion, the school must provide alternative education.	Discretionary School principal	Repeated failure to follow academic instruction, failure to complete a behavioural sanction (e.g. with a detention, a decision to change the sanction to exclusion would not automatically be unlawful), repeated and persistent breaches of the schools’ behavioural policy.	Academic year 2014‐2015 ¹² 3.8% of students (all schools) 7.51% of students (secondary schools)
		Permanent				0.07% of students (all schools) 0.15% of students (secondary schools)
France ¹³	Exclusion	Temporary exclusion from the classroom	Maximum of 8 days.	Consultation between the various members of the pedagogical and educational team	Serious cases of violence (physical or psychological) against the school community	Unknown
		Temporary exclusion from school	Maximum of 8 days.	School principal or school board
		Definitive exclusion	Permanent	Disciplinary board. The student should be represented on the disciplinary board.
Finland ¹⁴	Exclusion	In‐school exclusion and out‐of‐school exclusion with the school obligated to provide education at home.	In‐school exclusion: remainder of the day. Out‐of‐school exclusion: no more than 3 months. It is a very infrequent measure.	Teacher and school principal using a formal procedure. In cases of out‐of‐school exclusion, a personal plan of education must be provided and local social services should be informed.	Threats or serious violence that would endanger the safety of other members of the school community	Unknown
		Permanent exclusion does not exist in the local law.
Malta	Suspension	Fixed term suspension	Suspension for the rest of the day or for a few days. The number of days is not stated in the law.	Must be applied by the Head of School after the student's parent or guardian has been informed. The National Board for School Behaviour should be consulted.	The law defines 3 levels of misbehaviour. Suspension and expulsion are restricted for level 3, meaning serious offenses only. No further details.	Unknown
	Expulsion	Expulsion	Permanent
Norway ¹⁵	Exclusion	Fixed exclusion, expulsion for the rest of the year and loss of rights to education.	Primary education (level 1‐7): exclusion from specific lessons or for the rest of the day. Secondary education (level 8‐10): maximum of 3 days. Expulsion and loss of rights are defined in the Educational Law but its use is extremely rare.	The school principal in consultation with the pupil's teacher, unless the local authority defines a different procedure.	Exclusion is used as a last resort and can be justified only for serious issues of violence. The law suggests the use of alternatives such as mediation before imposing an exclusion.	Unknown
New Zealand ¹⁶	Stand‐down	Stand‐down	The student is removed from school for 5 school days in a term or 10 school days in a year.	School Principal, through a formal procedure that includes informing the family, the Education Authority and the school board.	Drugs (including substance abuse), continual disobedience and physical assault on other students were the most prevalent causes for stand‐down, suspensions, exclusion and expulsion.	1.5% of school population (2015)
	Suspension	Suspension	The student is removed from school for no more than 7 days.	School Board		0.3% of school population (2015)
	Exclusion	Expulsion	Maximum of 10 days in a year.	School Board		0.1% of the total student population under 16 years old (2015)
	Exclusion	Expulsion	A student under the age of 16 would be excluded from the school, with the requirement that the student enrolls elsewhere	School Board		0.2% of the total student population over 16 years old (2015) ¹⁷
			A student aged 16 or over would be expelled from the school, and the student may or may not enroll at another school.
The US, Washington DC ¹⁸	Suspension	Suspension (short‐term and long‐term) is a restriction in attending school or school activities.	Short‐term suspension: maximum of 10 consecutive days. Long‐term suspension: more than 10 consecutive days.	Certified teachers can decide a suspension but it must be communicated to the school principal. Short‐term suspensions must be formally communicated to the student/parents. Long‐term suspensions and expulsions require a formal process (i.e., written notice by the school district) and should be known by the School Principal.	Violation of school district rules	3.89% of all Washington students have been suspended or expelled (2014–15) The rate of suspensions and expulsions across districts range between nearly 0% to over 10% of students ¹⁹ .
	Expulsion	Expulsion makes this restriction indefinite.	Maximum: 1 calendar year		Violation of school district rules, serious violence, gang activity on school grounds.
		Emergency expulsion	Temporary. The student would go back once the danger ceases		The student's presence poses an immediate and continuing danger to others. The student's presence poses a threat of substantial disruption in the classroom.
The US, Virginia ²⁰	Removal from classes	In‐school		Teacher	Disruptive behaviour	Unknown
	Suspension	Suspension (short‐term and long‐term) is a restriction in attending school or school activities.	Short‐term suspension: 10 consecutive or 10 cumulative school days in a school year Long‐term suspension: more than 10 school days but less than 365 calendar days.	Imposed by the school principal, any assistant principal or, in their absence, any teacher. The suspension should entail a formal process. The student must be heard.	Violation of school code of conduct
	Expulsion	Expulsion makes the restriction last longer.	A student is not permitted to attend school within the school division and is ineligible for readmission for 365 calendar days after expulsion.	Imposed by a committee from the school board. Includes a formal process, written notice and appeal.	Criminal activity, carrying a weapon, drug related offences, or when the pupil presence is a clear threat for the school community.
The US, Texas ²¹	Suspension	In‐school suspension (e.g., seclusion units)	In‐school suspension lasts between 1 class and several days.	Low‐level offences are dealt with on a discretionary basis (according to a defined code of conduct) by the designated administrator (usually the principal or vice principal). Higher‐level offences require mandatory removal from the classroom. Rules for a due process are defined.	Violation of school code of conduct (unruly, disruptive, or abusive behaviours)	9.24% (2014‐2015) ²²
	Expulsion	Out‐of‐school suspension	Out‐of‐school suspension should be no longer than 3 days.	Unknown	Weapon carrying, serious violence or crimes.	4.33% (2014‐2015)
		In the case of serious offences, a student can be expelled from school.	At least 1 year Disciplinary Alternative Education Program (DAEP) for students removed for over 3 days (no maximum period provided).	Unknown		3.39% (2014‐2015)

Prevalence was calculated by dividing the number of excluded students per year (numerator) by the total number of students per year (denominator).

Information retrieved from “Suspension and Expulsion of School Students” New South Wales Government. Updated in October 2014 https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/policies/student_serv/discipline/stu_discip_gov/suspol_07.pdf

⁴

http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/safeschools/NeedtoKnowSExp.pdf

⁵

http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/safeschools/statistics.html

⁶

http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/safeschools/statistics.html

⁷

http://www.supereduc.cl/. Additionally, the information can be found in Torche & Mizala (2012)

⁸

http://denuncias.supereduc.cl/cuestionario1/denuncias_tematicos.html

⁹

In Colombia, each school must define school exclusion length. This is established in the Ley General de Educación N° 115, February 1994. http://www.mineducacion.gov.co/1621/articles‐85906_archivo_pdf.pdf. Additional information can be retrieved from http://www.mineducacion.gov.co/1621/article‐86906.html

¹⁰

http://www.mep.go.cr/sites/default/files/Reglamento_General_Establecimientos_Oficiales_de_Educacion_Media.pdf

¹¹

In England, exclusions are regulated by the Education Act of 2002

¹²

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/539704/SFR_26_2016_text.pdf

¹³

In France, school exclusions are regulated by the Code de l'education: http://www.education.gouv.fr/cid56670/sanctions‐scolaires‐reforme‐des‐procedures‐disciplinaires‐dans‐les‐etablissements‐scolaires.html

¹⁴

Basic Education Act 628/1998 (Amendments up to 1136/2010). http://www.finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/1998/en19980628.pdf

¹⁵

LOV 1998‐07‐17 nr 61: Law on Primary and Secondary Education (The Education Act)

¹⁶

In New Zealand, the guidance for suspensions is based on the Education Act of 1989 and the Education Rules 1999 (Stand‐down, Suspension, Exclusion, and Expulsion)

¹⁷

All data referring to prevalence was extracted from a governmental report informing data from academic years 2015. http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/147764/SSEE‐Indicator‐Report‐2015‐Data.pdf

¹⁸

In the US, procedures and definitions of school suspension vary among states. Here, we use Washington State as an example. For more details, see www.k12.wa.us/Safetycenter/Discipline/pubdocs/Suspension‐expulsion‐rights.pdf

¹⁹

Data extracted from Office of Super Intendent of Education (OSIP), State of Washington. http://www.k12.wa.us/DataAdmin/PerformanceIndicators/DataAnalytics.aspx#discipline

²⁰

See the specific section for Virginia, p. 10‐16 in https://safesupportivelearning.ed.gov/sites/default/files/disciplinecompendium/School%20Discipline%20Laws%20and%20Regulations%20Compendium.pdf

²¹

See the specific section for Texas, p. 14–27 in https://safesupportivelearning.ed.gov/sites/default/files/discipline‐compendium/School%20Discipline%20Laws%20and%20Regulations%20Compendium.pdf

²²

Data extracted from the Texas Education Agency based on categories which count students once. https://rptsvr1.tea.texas.gov/cgi/sas/broker