This article presents a reflection on the psychodynamics of children who are considered to be failing at school (and consequently to be prone to self-exclusion). The children quoted are from a school that took part in a research project, a school located in a socially excluded area of a medium-sized Brazilian city. The guiding questions for the discussion are “which psychoanalytic ideas are useful in order to better understand these children?” and “how can these ideas be of help in educational practice?”