A record 32 million days of learning were lost last year by pupils in England’s schools, due to a combination of unauthorised absences and exclusions, according to a new study.
The pre-pandemic figure was nearly half this.
The report by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), warns the education system is failing children, particularly those from poorer backgrounds.
Those who get free school meals are nearly five times more likely to be permanently excluded and four times more likely to be suspended than their peers.
Despite 2022/23 seeing the highest recorded levels of exclusions and suspensions - this new study also looks at more recent data up to Easter this year and concludes the trend has continued to rise by another 20%.
As well as increases in recorded exclusions, the report identifies "unaccountable" ways in which children miss school, such as managed moves between schools and children placed in isolation within schools - where a disruptive child is punished by being separated from the class and sometimes given nothing to do.
Kiran Gill, IPPR associate fellow and CEO of education charity The Difference, said: "The past four years, post-pandemic, have seen an alarming rise in children losing learning.
"We should all be worried about the social injustice that the most marginalised children - who already have the biggest barriers to opportunity outside of school - are those most likely to be not in classrooms through absence, suspension and exclusion."
Sky News spoke to 16-year-old Amario Michael-Nicholas from east London, who said he lost months of his education in year nine, as he was moved through four different institutions after being excluded from three of them.
But, even when he was in school, he said: "I spent more time in isolation than I did in class."
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'In the mainstream school they didn't care'
Amario admitted he "made some bad choices" but for example, if he was disruptive in a Spanish lesson, he might be placed in isolation the whole of the following day, thus missing classes where he wasn't disruptive, such as English and maths.
Amaro ended up in a pupil referral unit, The Haringey Learning Partnership, where he recently got 8 GCSEs.
He said his attitude to learning was transformed by teachers with the time to listen and understand his problems.
He said: "When I came here, I still made some of the same mistakes I was making previously but they always wanted to know why? 'Why did you do that? What could you have done differently?'
"In the mainstream school they didn't care, if I did something, it's just a punishment, 'deal with it'."
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Reintegration into mainstream education
The ethos at the Haringey Learning Partnership is to try to reintegrate children into mainstream education.
Small things matter.
At the school entrance standard black school shoes are lined up on the floor to ensure children have the right footwear.
Simple things like wearing the correct attire can dispel issues that lead to blow-ups with teachers and other pupils.
The Pupil Referral Unit also keeps a stock of local school uniforms to help pupils go back. Last year they helped around 100 children back into the mainstream.
'There needs to be a real big push on mental health support'
Headteacher Gerry Robinson said: "In Haringey we have social workers in many of our mainstream schools. I think that makes a difference.
"I think there needs to be a real big push on mental health support in schools.
"When a teacher has 32 children in front of them, it's very difficult to be having those individual conversations with children, and if somebody is being disruptive, to get to the bottom of why that's happening.
"But if we have more professionals in schools who can support that, I think that would lead to better outcomes."
Rising number of suspensions and exclusions 'shocking', government says
On Tuesday, the report authors met with Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson to discuss how to reverse this trend.
A Department for Education spokesperson told Sky News: "The rising number of school suspensions and permanent exclusions are shocking and show the massive scale of disruptive behaviour that has developed in schools across the country in recent years, harming the life chances of children.
"We are determined to get to grips with the causes of poor behaviour. We've already committed to providing access to specialist mental health professionals in every school, introducing free breakfast clubs in every primary school, and ensuring earlier intervention in mainstream schools for pupils with special needs.
"But we know poor behaviour can also be rooted in wider issues, which is why the government is developing an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty led by a task force co-chaired by the education secretary so that we can break down the barriers to opportunity."
The leader of Haringey Council, Cllr Peray Ahmet, said: "We're proud of all our children and young people here in Haringey, including those who are really benefitting from our Alternative Provision offering.
"The council set out an ambitious vision in developing this. The headteacher Gerry Robinson, her staff at the Haringey Learning Partnership and Haringey's Children's Services are doing some best-in-class work, bucking national trends around reducing exclusion and suspension rates in our borough by adopting a solutions-focused approach.
"The emphasis isn't on perceived problems, but remedies and resolutions to them."
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