Casualties of Education? Disengagement and the reclamation of agency for students in compulsory education in England

Disaffection is a current concern for England, with many young people becoming marginalised by the process of compulsory schooling and thus questioning its purpose. For some students, disaffection develops into disengagement – a process of actively resisting educational norms – and this can lead to the execution of severe forms of punishment, such as exclusion from the school. This chapter, then, explores the use of alternative learning environments for school-aged students as a mechanism for addressing the marginalisation process of compulsory schooling in England. Drawing on research from the field, and the author’s own studies in this area, it is argued that the provision of alternative spaces for learning facilitates opportunities for disaffected students to engage in greater reflection and metacognition, thus resulting in their reclamation of agency. Students self-conceptualise initially as victims, but later reposition themselves as casualties of the educational system.