The Problem with Isolation and Removal Rooms

With the recent change of government in the UK, we will undoubtedly be facing many changes to the education sector. While the newly-elected Prime Minister undoubtedly faces a range of pressing demands, one issue that is at the top of the agenda is behaviour in schools.

Perhaps one area that would be useful to examine is the use of isolation or removal rooms as a behaviour support strategy in many schools.

Schools grappling with a surge in behaviour-related issues

If the latest Department for Education statistics are anything to go by, schools are currently experiencing a wave of behaviour-related issues. This is reflected in the sheer number of suspensions and exclusions recorded in 2022/23: there were 786,961 suspensions over the course of the academic year, a rise of 36% on the previous year. During the same period, there were 9,376 permanent exclusions, compared to 6,495 in 2021/22.

While the underlying factors are undeniably varied and complex, the most commonly cited reason for these exclusionary measures was ‘persistent disruptive behaviour’.

Isolation / removal rooms as an element of behaviour ‘management’

It’s not only suspensions and exclusions, however, that are used when behaviour is considered unacceptable. Isolation rooms, also known as removal rooms, are often used when a student breaks school rules, or if their behaviour is disrupting the class. These rooms are often seen as a way of ‘fixing’ the immediate issue, allowing teachers to re-establish a calm, safe and productive learning environment for other students.

Theoretically, a student removed from class should be monitored and supervised, talk about what has happened with a member of staff, and complete work outside of class until they are ready to return to it. However, this can vary significantly from school to school, particularly depending on staffing levels and space available.

However, the success of any approach must surely be gauged against whether it has a positive, longer-term impact on the behaviour of the student or students involved. After all, ‘quick fixes’ are just that: unsustainable, temporary ‘sticking plasters’ that can mask much deeper issues.

The question for all of us, then, is: do isolation or removal rooms work? Does this approach support a long-term positive change, or could it instead potentially detrimentally impact outcomes for children and young people?

Most vulnerable students at risk of isolation

The trouble is, this model focuses predominantly on the outcomes of behaviour, rather than the causes. It fails to take the underlying drivers of behaviour into account, or the wider contexts of the students involved – students who may be among the most vulnerable, such as neurodivergent students, with or without a formal diagnosis; students with complex, complicated lives beyond the classroom; and those from socio-economically deprived backgrounds.

However, without robust monitoring systems in place looking at the use of isolation rooms, it’s impossible for us to check which students are most often removed from class.

Calm room vs isolation room

Of course, we all agree that creating schools and classrooms where all students can learn in a safe, calm environment, and where teachers are able to teach, is of fundamental importance.

Thousands of schools already do a fabulous job of fostering just the right conditions where every student and staff member feels seen, heard and valued for who they are, and receives the support they need in order to flourish. In some circumstances, this can involve students leaving the classroom to access quiet spaces where they can co-regulate with a trusted adult to calm themselves down.

But this is not synonymous with sending children and young people to isolation or removal rooms. Often, unlike structured, purposeful calm rooms, these are simply ‘holding areas’ where students end up when they are removed from class. In isolation rooms, there may not always be proactive systems and structures in place to support students to re-regulate and, eventually, reintegrate.

The impact of isolation rooms on students

Often, we see the same students in isolation, again and again, which should make us question whether removal rooms are useful for affecting long-term change. If isolation rooms do help to change behaviours, surely we would see them being needed less over time?

If a student is repeatedly sent to an isolation room, sometimes multiple times during the course of a day, week or term, they can quickly fall behind academically, making a smooth reintegration into the learning environment even less likely.

Over time, students can become increasingly disengaged and excluded from daily school life, to the point where they do not believe that school is for them. This type of sustained, fragmented educational provision and the subsequent disenfranchisement can only have a detrimental impact on the life chances of the children and young people affected, as well as their families and society as a whole.

Barriers to changing approaches to behaviour

At Team Teach, we know how tough the educational landscape currently is, and we acknowledge and celebrate the enormous efforts being made by leaders, teachers and support staff.

This is no mean feat: the legacy of the pandemic, an ongoing recruitment and retention crisis, squeezed budgets, inspection pressures, and a renewed focus on student and staff wellbeing are all combining to make it challenging for schools to focus on their main objective of teaching and learning, never mind re-evaluating approaches to behaviour support.

In addition, change can sometimes be met with resistance. Some staff may feel that removing strict rules and regimes equates to promoting a permissive, laissez-faire approach that enables or even condones behaviour that does not align with a school’s values. But this does not need to be the case. We can instead encourage a sustained, systematic approach to understanding the underlying drivers of behaviour, tackling issues at source, and collaborating to support students in the ways that diminish distressed, dysregulated behaviours.

Working together to create change and transform thinking

A new government brings with it new perspectives, and in many ways, there has never been a better time to review, refresh and reset our approach to behaviour support.

However, schools cannot do it alone; creating long-lasting change and transforming thinking requires a joined-up, coherent approach across every strand of a school community, from leaders, teachers and support staff, to parents, carers and the students themselves. We need to reach out and listen to the views of everyone, and forge ways forward together.

We need to shift our perspective, both individually and collectively, from one of just compliance and correction to one that is founded on compassion and curiosity. We need to consider behaviour support, rather than behaviour management, and develop a toolkit of strategies that empower us to respond to individuals’ unique needs, and create supportive, positive environments where all can thrive.