Abstract:
In the context of pressure to increase retention rates a wide variety of alternative
educational programs has developed in Australia over the past few decades. The
purpose of this paper is to provide a map of the alternative education landscape for
marginalised youth in New South Wales, in order to reduce confusion and enable
communication between programs, practitioners and scholars, locally and
internationally. This paper focuses on two dimensions to do with the program’s
purpose in relation to locus of change and with the stability of the program to
construct a proposed map of alternative education for marginalised youth in
Australia. Based on this map, the paper argues that one type of program is most useful,
not only for marginalised young people but also for suggesting possibilities for reform
in mainstream education.
