Who deserves help and who is bad? Race and class in ‘doing’ school exclusion

This article presents findings from qualitative research on school exclusion. The study was conducted in a Pupil Referral Unit (PRU), part of alternative education provision, in England. Mixed methods used included ethnographic approaches, drama-based group work, focus group discussions and interviews. Research participants were teenage boys (age 14–16) and professionals including Teachers and Teaching Assistants (TAs). Data were analysed in multiple ways within a post structural framework, this included a participatory Data Sharing workshop with boys at the PRU and psycho social approaches. Intersectionality and post structural theories provide conceptual resources for the study. Key themes are as follows: Situated context, boys' creative practices through rap music and the phenomenon of parents sending their sons 'back home' outside the UK. The article highlights school exclusion as part of a wider global context of inequity and punishment in education. It offers nuanced insights from the raced and classed experience of exclusion.