This paper, based on research in five British schools, focuses on the experience of black young people in the British education system. It is set within the contexts of both persistent underperformance and overrepresentation in school exclusion of these children. The concept of intersectionality informs the study in terms of disaggregating the children primarily by divisions of race, class and gender. Issues of whiteness further informs the context of the interactions between children and teachers. The interactions between and the views of teachers and black children are seen as deeply implicated in the unequal learning outcomes still prevailing in British schools. (Contains 2 notes.)