Alternative Education and Community Engagement

Foreword by Diane Abbott, MPWhat is wrong with our mainstream education system in the UK and what can we do about it? Alternative Education and Community Engagement explores some of the ethical and philosophical issues behind the provision of market-led alternative education, namely: Free Schools, Studio Schools, Supplementary Schools and Co-operative Schools. This volume seeks to explore how power is mediated in these educational models, drawing on Foucault, Bourdieu, Lyotard and others to provide a theoretical underpinning of its analyses of both mainstream and alternative education in the UK, and to introduce the reader to a ’critical pedagogy’. Using case studies, Ornette Clennon examines the practicalities of working within these alternative models and asks whether a market-based approach to delivering higher standards of education for everyone actually works.