'Bitchy Girls and Silly Boys': Gender and Exclusion from School

National Dropout Prevention Center/Network. Clemson University, 209 Martin Street, Clemson, SC 29631. Tel: 864-656-2599; Fax: 864-656-0136; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: http://www.dropoutprevention.org/ndpcdefault.htm

Y

7

Expulsion; At Risk Students; Ethnography; Gender Differences; Peer Relationship; Sexuality; Stereotypes; Behavior Disorders; Aggression; Foreign Countries; Social Influences; Student Behavior; Mental Disorders; Gender Issues; Social Attitudes; School Role; Secondary School Students

Iraq; United Kingdom

1478-8497

This paper is concerned with findings about gender which form part of a larger ethnographic study. The study was undertaken during the author's employment as a local authority (school district) Pupil Support Officer, where the author's 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 focused 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". This paper focuses on the effects that professionals' assumptions about gender-identity and sexuality can have on effective support planning for young people at risk of or subject to permanent exclusion; and the lived experience of these young people with regard to their gender-identity and sexuality, with particular regard to how this can contribute towards exclusion. The author begins with a story about Nama, a young woman of Iraqi Kurdish heritage, who had been excluded for aggressive language and behaviour. Nama's story introduces some of the complex gendered issues experienced by students at risk of or subject to a permanent exclusion and how these interact with issues of class and ethnicity. The author also briefly discusses the connection between habitus (Bourdieu, 1977), embodiment and the "extended body" as a theoretical background to a discussion of sexuality, gender and identity, through three cases of "compulsory heterosexuality". The conclusion clarifies some of the links between gender normativity and instances of threatened or actual permanent exclusion. (Contains 8 notes.)

ERIC

13

2009

EJ853213