Disrupting the School-to-Prison Pipeline: A Relational Reflection

Holly Price, 10 June 2025

The phrase ‘school-to-prison pipeline’ can sound like an oversimplification but when you've worked across education, family services, and even the prison system, as I have, you start to notice familiar patterns, particularly around the young people who fall through the gaps.
For many of them, early experiences of exclusion (both formal and informal) play a part in shaping that trajectory. It's rarely one moment or one choice, more a series of interactions, assumptions, and responses that slowly narrow their path.

Behaviour often tells a story

In different roles over the years, I’ve worked with young people who expressed themselves in ways that didn’t fit easily within the systems around them. Sometimes it looked like defiance, sometimes withdrawal, sometimes chaos but often, it was just their best way of managing things they didn’t have the words for yet.

It’s understandable that schools and services focus on behaviour, there are boundaries to hold, and pressures to meet attainment targets; but when challenging behaviour becomes the whole story and focus, it’s easy to miss what’s underneath.

I’m not sure there’s a quick fix, but I do think that when adults are able to stay curious (especially when it’s difficult) something different becomes possible.

What could we do instead?

From what I’ve seen, the moments that make the biggest difference are rarely dramatic. They're small and human: a member of staff who checks in with a child or young person rather than simply calling out ‘bad’ behaviour; a quiet offer of support rather than a consequence; a conversation that happens before frustration boils over.

We know we can’t transform everything overnight, but we can notice the interactions that already feel relational and protective - and do more of that, more intentionally. This describes KCA’s theory of change: notice what you do well and then do it more. This moment-by-moment reflection amplifies good practice.

So many practitioners do this valuable work of human connection well, and perhaps part of the challenge is just creating the space and support to enable them to keep doing it, especially when the day job can leave us feeling stretched and frazzled.

The numbers behind the pattern

Nationally, there are shifts worth paying attention to.

In 2022–23, the number of young people entering the youth justice system in England and Wales rose for the first time in a decade - around 8,400 first-time entrants, with a 7% increase among 10- to 14-year-olds.
(Source: Children & Young People Now)

That doesn’t tell us everything, but it does suggest that the urgent need for early, thoughtful responses to distress and perceived misbehaviour.

Some things I try to hold on to…

• Behaviour usually has a backstory - it’s rarely the whole picture.
• Young people tend to do better when they feel safe, when they know they matter and when they feel that they belong.
• Staff do better when they feel supported too.
• Connection and trust are built over time, in small everyday moments and interactions.
• Sometimes, it’s about doing what we already know works, with a bit more space and intention.

There’s no one solution to the school-to-prison pipeline but I believe in the power of relationships to interrupt it. Practitioners are often key secondary attachment figures for children and young people with additional support needs. When we find consistent ways to help them feel seen, held in mind, and gently guided towards a different way forward; they heal and thrive.