Special Interest Group
The Alternative Education SIG takes the broadest approach to ‘alternative’ that we can. We are interested in all forms of out of school educational provision and with ‘alternative’ approaches within schools. We will facilitate  debate, discussion and exploration around the many issues, philosophical, political, pedagogical and ethical, that surround alternative education from PRUs to home education. We aspire for this SIG to be a meeting ground for the education which takes place in museums, libraries, homes and open spaces as well as in alternative schools, democratic schools and flexi schools, and to give a voice to those who realize education and learning differently. We aim to promote network of critical discussion and supportive resources for researchers, practitioners, writers and thinkers. We aim to be lively in our debate and in our SIG activity and to represent a vibrant forum of voices in this important and growing area. Research interests within the SIG are widespread and include, but are not restricted to:
Senior Lecturer at U W E Bristol
Sarah Gillie is a former primary school teacher whose research interests relate to inclusion in education across and beyond ‘compulsory’ schooling. Family diagnoses of neurodivergence have only strengthened her conviction that inclusive...
Assistant Head of Teaching & Learning: Outcomes at Tute, VL and Research Associate at Tute Education
Sharon Smith is a Visiting Lecturer and Associate Researcher at the University of Chester. Sharon completed her PGCE (2006) and MA in Teaching and Learning (2010) at Manchester Metropolitan University, before completing her Doctorate at The...
Lecturer at University of Bath
Dr Fadoua Govaerts is a Lecturer in Education at the University of Bath, founder of RE-KnoX (Research in Education – Knowledge Exchange), and Convenor of the ºÚÁÏÍø911 Alternative Education Special Interest...
Understanding SEND in UK Educational Research and Practice
How do researchers make ethical decisions about sharing their work, and who gets to access the knowledge they produce? In this episode, we explore alternative approaches to publication and...
This award celebrates the publication of educational research and is awarded to a scholarly book on education deemed to be high quality, engaging and innovative.
ºÚÁÏÍø911 Blog post #2,000
Continue reading blog postSnow-dusted salutations and tinsel-tinged tidings to all our readers, authors, curators and guest editors around the globe. In this, the ºÚÁÏÍø911 Blog’s tenth anniversary year, I look back over the...
Continue reading blog postArtwork created by Young People in alternative provision ‘I’m a genius, who’s taking a photo?’ (Kinsella et al., 2019) ‘We do stupida stuff here’ (Johnston, 2020) These aren’t...
Continue reading blog postWe warmly invite members of the ºÚÁÏÍø911 Alternative Education SIG—and anyone with an interest in alternative education—to join us online this November for our upcoming Meet and Discuss session....
Emily Dobrich was awarded best presentation for Alternative Education at the 2024 ºÚÁÏÍø911/WERA conference for her presentation: An Embodied Educational Research Project to Build Solidarity and...
