The thesis presents a sociological examination of the problem of Exclusion from school. Over the last decade in the UK, a sharp rise in rates of Exclusion has resulted in official, professional and public concern about a relative 'failure' of Excluded youngsters to benefit from a 'broad and balanced' curriculum. As a case study, the thesis draws upon research conducted in two Scottish secondary state schools, to examine reported experiences of schooling among young people, aged 14-15 years old, and their teachers. Exclusion, a sanction of 'last resort', represents a limitation of access to a key source of entitlement to welfare in modernity. This thesis addresses Exclusion by presenting empirical material drawn from textual, observational and interview data. The thesis examines official and professional accounts of Exclusion, to find such accounts to be largely policy driven, positivistic in character, and failing to provide an explanation of the phenomenon. The thesis argues positivist accounts of Exclusions draw upon 'behavioural' approaches to in/discipline among pupils, which leads to normative typing or categorising of pupils as 'disaffected' and/or as 'troublemakers'. Policy makers rely uncritically upon essentialist understandings of gender to present disproportionate rates of Exclusion among boys and girls as partially down to 'natural' differences between the sexes. The thesis argues official and professional accounts of Exclusion are unable to provide a reflexive account of Exclusion due to the formal character of its categories, for example action described in terms of 'behaviour' 'takes for granted' everyday rules of interaction. The thesis argues explanation of Exclusion, and its gendered character lies in an analysis of everyday talk about talk/action among actors at school, to present schools and schooling as 'social institutions', in which meaning of action is negotiated according to actors normative understanding of everyday rules.