This paper will draw on the preliminary results from the national project "Living and learning with new literacies in and outside school: contributions for reducing school drop-out, exclusion and abandonment among youth” (Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. EDU2011-24122). The Spanish education system nowadays is characterized by: (a) an increase in accountability measures affecting both students and teachers; (b) a notable decrease in public spending, particularly on education and health, using the economic crisis as an excuse for restructuring the welfare state; and, (c) increasing economic distance between social classes. Within this framework, we will present ethnographic research showing how five secondary schools develop strategies that create structures of exclusion, affecting those students who don't meet the expectations of the teachers or school administration. As our research was done not only about, but with young people (Hernández, 2011) we are able, through both our own and the students’ lenses, to see how schools segregate and generate less opportunities and worsen learning conditions precisely for those who were already in exclusion. References HERNÁNDEZ, F. (coord.). (2011). Investigar con los jóvenes: cuestiones temáticas, metodológicas, éticas y educativas. Barcelona: Universidad de Barcelona. Repositorio digital. http://hdl.handle.net/2445/17362