The number of children being excluded from Dundee schools is still “disappointing”, according to local councillors during a heated debate.
Labour councillors hit out at Dundee City Council’s SNP administration as the first figures from a new scheme designed to tackle school exclusions came to light.
Opposition councillors voiced their concerns over the number of children still being excluded from city schools despite figures currently being the lowest in the city’s history.
Labour’s Georgia Cruickshank and education spokesman Laurie Bidwell branded the latest figures “disappointing” for exclusion rates among the four Dundee high schools which have adopted the council’s Inclusion Plus Project.
In 2013/14 0.12% of pupils’ time per session was spent forcibly out of school, compared to 0.09% for the latest school year.
The Inclusion Plus Project cost more than £1 million to implement and aims to work with pupils at risk of exclusion to emphasise the importance of education.
Maryfield councillor Ms Cruickshank said the authority failed to take advantage of the fact that the project has previously been deployed by other local administrations.
She said: “Given that this model has been tried and tested previously in Fife, these are not exactly the figures I expected to see. This is a disappointing report and I would have expected more.”
Councillor Cruickshank’s views were echoed by Mr Bidwell, who said: “Whilst progress has been made, there still remains a challenge in the city relating to school exclusions.”
In response to the criticism, head of education Paul Clancy, said that whilst figures fluctuated throughout the year, exclusion rates for the opening six weeks of this school term were the lowest in the city’s history.
He said: “We see this as a very positive report. We now have a model which is running well. There are a number of things to be learned, but we do not see this as a negative report.”
The Inclusion Plus Project cost the authority £162,000 to implement, with a further £910,000 coming from alternative funding groups.
The project, run by various groups including Apex Scotland, encourages early intervention with challenging pupils and has been adopted at the city’s Baldragon Academy, Braeview Academy, Craigie High School and St Paul’s Academy.
Funding for the project remains in place until June 2016 when Glasgow University will produce a final report on the project’s performance.