Being at school is not always the same as being included. A student can be sitting in the classroom and still miss out on learning, activities, friendships, and the support they need to participate.
The Exclusion Tracker helps families and caregivers make these experiences visible. Whether your child is sent home, left out of an activity, or regularly present without meaningful support, their experience matters.
What does exclusion look like?
Exclusion is not limited to suspensions or being told your child cannot attend school. It can happen for part of a day, during a particular activity, or repeatedly over weeks and months.
Missing school or attending reduced hours
- Being asked to stay home because an EA, nurse, or other support person is absent.
- Being told the school cannot meet your child’s disability-related needs.
- Frequent calls asking you to pick your child up early.
- Shortened school days, late starts, or attendance limited to certain classes.
- A gradual-entry schedule that differs from the schedule for other students and limits access to school.
- Being told your child must wait for staffing, funding, an assessment, a designation, or a plan before attending.
- Being suspended or repeatedly sent home for behaviour connected to unmet disability-related needs.
- Being unable to attend because essential health, safety, toileting, feeding, or other personal-care supports are unavailable.
Being at school but excluded from learning
- Sitting in the classroom without accessible materials, instruction, communication tools, or necessary accommodations.
- Being given unrelated activities to keep busy while classmates receive instruction.
- Watching an activity without the support needed to take part.
- Spending substantial time in hallways, offices, separate rooms, or walking around the school instead of learning.
- Being routinely separated from classmates because support is unavailable.
- Being secluded or restrained.
Missing activities and connection with peers
- Being left out of field trips, assemblies, performances, sports, clubs, or special events.
- Being told your child can participate only if a parent or caregiver attends.
- Missing recess, lunch activities, or opportunities to socialise because appropriate support is not provided.
- Being physically present in a group but unsupported to communicate, contribute, or interact with peers.
- Being isolated from peers without meaningful opportunities to reconnect.
- Being unable to participate because the activity, venue, transportation, or equipment is inaccessible.
- Withdrawing from school or activities because bullying, harassment, or disability-related distress remains unaddressed.
Exclusion from child care
- Being refused enrolment or asked to leave because of disability-related needs.
- Having hours reduced or receiving repeated requests for early pickup.
- Being denied before-school, after-school, or other child care because appropriate support is unavailable.
These are examples, not a complete checklist. You do not need a formal suspension letter or a school’s agreement that something counts as exclusion to describe what happened.
A break or separate space that your child chooses and finds helpful is different from being routinely isolated or denied participation. Describe the circumstances, your child’s experience, and what they missed.
Why recording exclusion matters
A school’s attendance record may show a student as present without showing that they spent the day isolated, unsupported, or unable to participate. An early pickup may be recorded without explaining that the school asked the family to collect their child.
The tracker records experiences that attendance figures alone can miss.
Reports help identify recurring barriers, document their effects, and support advocacy for changes to policy, funding, and everyday practice. They also help challenge the idea that each family is facing an isolated problem.
Repeated exclusions matter. A missed hour, an inaccessible activity, or another request to stay home can add up to a substantial loss of education and belonging.
Report each instance when you can, even if you have reported similar experiences before. Families and caregivers already carry substantial demands; you do not need a perfect record for your contribution to matter.
Record an exclusion
Parents and guardians of children and youth with disabilities and/or complex learning needs can report exclusion from K–12 education, child care, and out-of-school care across Canada.
Describe what happened, what your child could not access, and how it affected them. Include the reason you were given, if any.
For questions about the survey, visit the Exclusion Tracker FAQ.
About the Exclusion Tracker
BCEdAccess Society created the Exclusion Tracker in 2018, responding to experiences families and caregivers were sharing about exclusion in BC schools.
The Family Support Institute of BC now stewards the National Exclusion Tracker, in partnership with Inclusive Education Canada, extending this work across the country.
