Alternative teacher education programmes have emerged in many countries as a new approach to recruiting, educating and placing teachers in underperforming schools. The media plays an important role in framing perceptions of these programmes and their teachers, including in Australia, but this has not been the subject of significant research to…

Often considered dumping grounds for those who cannot function in mainstream schools, alternative education providers are seen as outliers in the provision of schooling. With schools as relatively stable workplaces, alternative education provision makes for a rich laboratory to further our understanding of the causal impact of schooling on a range…

This paper explores how students can be positioned as contributors to leading practices that shape the nature of their schooling experiences. Student voice and agency agendas have grown in popularity over recent years but understanding the possibilities and boundaries of the ways that students can contribute to their educational experiences…

Educational alternatives for disenfranchized young people in school settings have resulted in an increasing number of flexible learning and vocational education programs. The youth in these programs often face multiple adversities that limit their engagement in education. Efforts to support these students require a trauma-informed care approach.…

Training the high-order competency of complex thinking encompasses addressing its sub-competencies of critical, innovative, scientific and systemic thinking. In this framework, how do the practices of reasoning for complexity in Latin American institutions differ from other regions? This study focused on comparing training practices that promote…

High school students attending Flexible Learning Programmes (FLPs) experience more speech, language, and communication needs (SLCN) than those in mainstream, which may impact their academic engagement, socioemotional health, and future employment. We explored the effectiveness of a pilot workshop designed to increase educators' confidence to…

Purpose: Steiner schools represent a natural experiment in the provision of schooling. With a history dating back more than 100 years, leadership, leaders and the principal do not sit easily with Steiner educators. The contemporary regulatory environment requires a "principal" or legal authority at the school-building level, creating a…

This paper traces the introduction of Steiner programmes in publicly funded school settings in Victoria, Australia, through a recent history covering approximately 1990-2011. Three programmes are examined through interviews with Steiner educators focusing on some of the challenges of working with these alternative educational ideas in these…

We use the concept of time-space paths (Gordon, Holland and Lahelma 2000) to explore how young people negotiate manageable educational pathways and experience educational engagement in alternative educational settings. For many young people in alternative settings, tight time-space paths (e.g. attending school on time) led to their disengagement…

In Australia coeducation dominates government schooling, with single-sex institutions usually being the preserve of selective government schools and private, often elite, institutions. For marginalised young people who 'drop out' or are forced to leave the coeducational mainstream system, flexible and/or non-traditional schools provide alternative…

Post-pandemic, many universities are seeking ways to better engage students and support them to stay with and succeed in their studies. Immersive scheduling, whereby students complete units over shorter time periods than the traditional 12-15 week semester or trimester, may be a way to do this and improve academic outcomes at scale. This paper…

Contemporary technology, along with the tangible/virtual duality of present-day learner consciousness, are, in the authors' opinion, necessitating and enabling a fundamental educational transformation. A central feature of this development will be 'letting the learners lead', including (from secondary onwards) their identification of the content…

Although most students experience relative success at school, there remains a population of educationally marginalised learners within educational settings, indicating that mainstream schools are challenged to appropriately meet the diverse needs of every student. Designed to support students on the cusp of school disengagement, alternative…

Young people who graduate from high school are more likely to transition into further study or training, get a job and earn higher wages. However, many young people with the highest needs leave or become excluded from mainstream school settings and some complete their education in alternative education contexts. This paper shares reflections from…

Naomi Stockley, Rianna Tatana, Roshni Kaur, and Alice Reynolds offer some early insights into the implementation of Sounds-Write at The Pavilion School, a specialist provision in the northern suburbs of Melbourne for vulnerable students who have been excluded from mainstream education and face significant personal challenges. [For the complete…