With the government on a mission to increase the number of pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in mainstream schools in England, one barrier to more inclusion - some say - is the accountability system.
In the past, secondary schools have felt they have been judged largely on their exam results, leading to claims that they have been disincentivised to educate children with SEND, who are statistically less likely to achieve top grades.
Education leaders have warned that this situation has resulted in the rise of ”magnet schools” - mainstream schools with a disproportionately high number of pupils with SEND in their local area. Because these schools have a good reputation for this provision, they end up attracting pupils with SEND from across the local area who might otherwise have been educated at other schools.
If the government is to be successful in realising its vision for genuine inclusion, it will need to make all schools attractive for parents of pupils with SEND. This could mean a renewed focus on identifying and preventing off-rolling.
What is off-rolling?
There is no legal definition of the practice. However, Ofsted has come up with one for its inspectors to use under its current inspection framework. Ofsted defines off-rolling as: “The practice of removing a pupil from the school roll without a formal, permanent exclusion or by encouraging a parent to remove their child from the school roll, when the removal is primarily in the interests of the school rather than in the best interests of the pupil.”
Is off-rolling different to permanent exclusion?
Yes, and the two practices being conflated has been one of the biggest concerns among school leaders.
Ofsted itself has been clear that it supports the right of schools to permanently exclude pupils. Off-rolling is understood to be a way in which schools lose pupils without having to exclude them formally.
The two practices can get lumped together, though, when people criticise the school system for not being inclusive enough.
What does Ofsted do about off-rolling?
Ofsted is currently finalising its plans for a new inspection system, based on giving schools inspection report cards, which is due to come into force in November.
The watchdog has identified off-rolling in some schools’ inspection reports, with some of those schools being rated “inadequate”. Ofsted’s current inspection handbook (updated in September 2024) says that inspectors, in reaching a judgement on the leadership and management at a school, must consider:
“The extent to which leaders’ (including trust leaders’) high ambitions are for all pupils, including those who are harder to reach. This includes ensuring that practices such as ‘off-rolling’ do not take place and that the way the school uses the pupil premium is founded on good evidence.”
Although Ofsted’s plans for its new report card inspections are not finalised, it published earlier this year indicate that inspectors should grade a school as “causing concern” - the lowest grade in its new system - for leadership and governance if a school is found to be off-rolling pupils.
Under the new framework, Ofsted will not give schools an overall effectiveness grade.
What do school leaders say about off-rolling?
There is universal condemnation of any school that removes pupils - leaving them to drop out of the school system altogether, be home educated or end up in unregistered provision - because it cares more about its exam results.
The practice of off-rolling has been described as “unethical, inappropriate and beyond repugnant” by one headteachers’ leader.
But Ofsted has previously been accused of lacking consistency in its approach to the issue. There has been a concern that, in some cases, Ofsted found practice that appeared to meet its definition of off-rolling but then failed to explicitly call it out as such in its school inspection reports.
Another criticism was that the watchdog’s definition of off-rolling pitted the interests of the school against the interests of the pupil when, in some cases, a decision to move a child could be in the interests of both parties.
There are now wider concerns that, although the government has made inclusion a key priority, there has not been sufficient focus in its plans announced so far on who is on a school’s roll and why pupils leave to go into elective home education.
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