This article explores the perceptions and experiences of a secondary school English teacher who retains a strong sense of her own working-class origins and identity. Karen has ‘crossed classes’ in terms of her education and occupation but still positions herself unambiguously as working class. This article considers the ways in which classed practices invade her working life, her relationships with staff and students as well as her classroom pedagogy. The article also considers some of the ways in which subtle and not so subtle classed practices can work in schools to ‘other’ and exclude the working-class teacher.
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