‘Wait, wait, let me see how this is going to go down’: drama-based methods in research with school-excluded teenage boys

This chapter explores the use of drama-based approaches in research with teenage boys, marginalised through school exclusion in England. In the United Kingdom, school exclusion is recognised as a social harm, with certain groups including Black boys, young people who are socially and economically disadvantaged, and young people with special education needs and disabilities (SEND), disproportionately affected. Despite recognition of the importance of addressing the problem of school exclusion, the voices of excluded young people are often overlooked in solutions to the problem. Drama as a method of enquiry offers a rich variety of creative possibilities for research. Drawing on qualitative research with school-excluded teenage boys, in an English Pupil Referral School, the chapter explores the use of drama-based research methods to understand the lived experience of exclusion. The chapter presents arguments based on the experience of asking research questions through drama and games. The situated context of a diverse group of teenage boys aged fourteen to fifteen, marginalised by school exclusion, underlines the importance of methods of researching, which provide the opportunity for young people to speak directly. The study highlights agentic dimensions and the generative potential of drama methods in researching with young people.