The Alternative Provision research network (APRN) is a collective of academic researchers, AP practitioners, and others who have come together because of a common interest in research about Alternative Provision (AP). In 2022 we held our first international conference. This was a wide-ranging discussion that explored the issue of social justice in relation to APs.
At a time when AP is becoming increasingly prominent in policy, social justice requires us to ask how this increased visibility might both help and hinder children and young people (CYP) attending or enrolling in AP. In some ways increased visibility may be positive: it may reduce disadvantage for the marginalised and varied group of CYP that AP supports and mean that AP is more prominent in the minds of those with the power to shape an education system that can better respond to all CYP. However, a greater level of caution and critique is also needed in some responses to CYP in AP to avoid the reproduction of social inequalities.
This conference aims to fuse together both hopeful and critical knowledge from those involved intimately with and/or currently researching AP to better understand the way in which AP is being positioned in wider social and historical structures. Thus, keeping alive a debate about the barriers and possibilities for social justice.
We welcome papers, insights, and provocations from academics, practitioners, advocates, and researchers from across a range of educational, community-based, and public-sector settings. We also welcome those who want to get more informed on issues related to social justice and Alternative Provision.
Please submit 250 word (max) abstracts to c.johnston@uwe.ac.uk before Friday 30 June 2023.
You can sign up for the conference using the Eventbrite link – spaces are limited. The joining link will be sent three days prior to the event.
Programme
13:00Welcome
13:10Keynote: Professor Sally Tomlinson – The University of Oxford
14:00 International Discussion Panel with Professor Sally Power, Dr Valeria Cotza, Associate Professor Glenda McGregor and Associate Professor Jody Polleck
15:00Individual Papers and Provocations17:00Close