ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a background to the alternative provision context in England, and explores the approaches taken in one alternative provision site in relation to young people who have been excluded from mainstream schooling. It discusses reflective of the ways in which the government in England has become increasingly concerned about the high levels of exclusion and the increased use of alternative provision and with questions about its quality. The chapter highlights the costs to the most marginalised pupils of maintaining a highly performative education system. It focuses on the interview data, although field notes from one meeting are also used. The chapter examines a thesis looking at how ‘moderate attainers’ in the last years of schooling at two English government high schools were being supported with their university applications compared to ‘high attainers’. Alternative education provision has become woven into the fabric of English schooling.
