'Bitchy girls and silly boys': Gender and exclusion from school

This paper is concerned with findings about gender which form part of a larger ethnographic study. The study was undertaken during my employment as a local authority (school district) Pupil Support Officer, where my work involved the support of young people who had been permanently excluded (expelled) from school for a variety of reasons, including sexual assault, violence against their peers or teachers, and what was known as 'persistent disruptive behaviour'. It focussed on the effects of instances of actual or threatened permanent exclusion from secondary school on pupils, families and professionals in an urban local authority: 'Enway'.