Belonging part 1: the ‘red card’ of exclusion
Blog Editor, IOE Digital22 June 2022‘You must shun (this girl) .. avoid her company, exclude her from your sports, shut her out of your converse… (she) is a liar’. So pronounced Mr Brocklehurst, proprietor of Lowood School. His venom was directed against Jane Eyre, the eponymous heroine of Charlotte Bronte’s novel.
Some time ago, I interviewed young people who had been excluded from school. They drew pictures of how they felt. One image has long haunted me. At the center is a small child looking distraught. The caption around the drawing reads:
You’re thick.. You’re stupid.. You don’t belong here.. Get out of my school… (more…)