This paper reports on a research project undertaken in 2012 with young people who were at risk from being excluded from school. The research specifically focused on capturing the voices of young people through video diaries to follow their narratives and provide an insight into their lived experiences of managing school and alternative education provision (AEP). The research is situated the English context where much evidence of late has focused on children at risk of exclusion from school and where there is limited research on the young person’s perspective (Hayden, 2009).

In the England early intervention for children struggling at school is offered through Alternative Education Provision (AEP) where the education of the young person operates beyond the school environments in informal learning settings, often offered through local authority provision and youth services. Informal education is recognised to support re-engagement and resilience in young people (Thomas, Vigurs, Suarez, Newman, Dickenson and Sinclair, 2008; OfSTED, 2008).

Greater interest in the voices of the young people themselves has been brought into sharper focus with the publication of the Children’s Commissioner Report in March 2012 ‘They never give up on you’, which reported on the experiences of 2000 young people at risk of exclusion, noting the vulnerability of particular groups in the education system – (boys, children receiving free school meals (FSM) ethnic minority groups and gypsy, roma and traveller children). Also, that the same young people are at risk of becoming not in employment, education or training (NEET) and becoming permanently excluded from school. This maps a depressing journey where lack of access to education increases the risk of children entering the criminal justice system (Hayden 2010, Daniels, Cole, Sellman, Sutton, Visser and Bedward, 2003). What this and other research has identified is that for many of these young people they are carrying complex needs and leading complex lives, ‘carrying baggage’. What issues are significant in these stories? How do young people cope with navigate their lives between school and alternative education provision (AEP) programmes? What is critical to their success? How do they develop resilience to re-engage with school programmes? 

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