Despite a large amount of research focusing on bullying and exclusion in secondary schools, there is far less research focusing on cross-gender bullying and 'popular' students who experience bullying. This research provides an analysis of interactions between male and female students (aged 13-14) in a school in England. The data provides multiple examples, both in the form of observations and group interviews, of girls teasing, intimidating and bullying boys and other popular girls. The analysis also considers teachers' reactions to this behaviour, highlighting that it is often unnoticed. This paper raises this as an area for concern and suggests that future research should explore this further, both gaining more in-depth knowledge of female bullying and intimidation of boys and popular girls, and exploring ways of working with teachers and schools to support students.

To cite this article: Siobhan Dytham (2018) The construction and maintenance of exclusion, control and dominance through students' social sitting practices, British Journal of Sociology of Education, 39:7, 1045-1059, DOI: 10.1080/01425692.2018 The construction and maintenance of exclusion, control and dominance through students' social sitting practices Siobhan Dytham centre for Education studies, university of Warwick, coventry, uK ABSTRACT This article highlights the interactional work involved in relational aggression, and how rules and norms around sitting are used by students to achieve exclusion and dominance. This research took place in an English secondary school which educates pupils from Year 7 to sixth form (ages 11-18). Drawing on observation, walkand-talk and group discussion data with Year 9 students (age 13-14), this research highlights how the girls developed shared rules and norms around sitting which, while seemingly reasonable and applied equally to all, are seen to facilitate and legitimise exclusion and relational aggression. Girls from different social groups collaboratively constructed and participated in a system of rules which were then utilised for dominance and exclusion by regulating where, when and how girls sat. Sitting is seen to be an important marker of ownership, both of people and places, as well as a group management tool within student social groups.

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