Building upon the conceptualisation of alternative education in Ireland

Young people who are either at risk of disengaging or disengaged from mainstream education in Ireland are often supported by what is termed ‘out-of-school’ or the ‘alternative education’ sector. A recent review of out-of-school education provision (Department of Education. 2022. Review of Out-of-School Educational Provision. Dublin: DE, Social Inclusion Unit.) was the first attempt to recognise this hidden educational sector. This paper aims to build upon and expand the typology describing out-of-school alternative education provision developed by Department of Education (Department of Education. 2022. Review of Out-of-School Educational Provision. Dublin: DE, Social Inclusion Unit.) to further explore the meaning of alternative education in Ireland. Based on findings from the first-of-its-kind evaluation of Rethink Ireland’s Education Fund, we propose a tentative typology of alternative education based on three clusters of Awardee projects. Three critical criteria, positionality toward the mainstream schools, learners’ age, and focus of projects’ work, were used to distinguish between the clusters, identified as (a) life-long learning/social inclusion programmes, (b) curriculum reform/diverse pathways to adulthood programmes, and (c) alternative centres of education/based outside the mainstream schools. We show how alternative education providers offer a much broader range of programmes, operating both inside and outside of the mainstream schools, use innovative approaches to teaching and learning, support the overall well-being of students and tackle structural inequality within education in Ireland.