What was claimed
Black Caribbean students are three times more likely to be permanently excluded than other children.
Our verdict
This is correct, although gypsy/Roma students and travellers of Irish heritage were most likely to be excluded.
Black Caribbean pupils three times more likely to be excluded
“If you are from a black Caribbean background, you are three times more likely to be permanently excluded from school than other children.”
Theresa May, 5 October 2016
This is correct, comparing black Caribbean pupils to all pupils.
Black Caribbean pupils were about three and a half times more likely to be permanently excluded from state schools than all students in 2014/15. These figures are for primary, secondary and special schools.
250 black Caribbean pupils were permanently excluded in 2014/15, making up 0.28% of all black Caribbean pupils in England. Across all ethnic groups 5,770 pupils were permanently excluded or 0.08%.
The difference was bigger for boys than girls. Black Caribbean boys were almost four times as likely to be excluded compared to all male students; black Caribbean girls were twice as likely.
Black Caribbean students were also twice as likely to be permanently excluded as black students as a whole.
Gypsy/Roma students and pupils who were travellers of Irish heritage had the highest rate of exclusion: they were both six times more likely to be excluded than all students. But the Department for Education said these figures should be “treated with some caution” since these groups of pupils are quite small.
Asian students, particularly those of Indian descent, were the least likely to be permanently excluded.
Image courtesy of buck82