Bicycles, ‘informality’ and the alternative learning space as a site for re-engagement: a risky (pedagogical) proposition?

ABSTRACT

The great possibility of alternative education programs rests in the affront to established conventions that these present for what counts as learning, engagement and the experience of schooling. This paper takes as its point of focus one specific, in-school alternative learning program, and considers the possibilities for student re-engagement that emerged via the repair and restoration of old bicycles. The discussion focusses particularly on the “informality” that presented within the day-to-day dynamics of the program and how the space provided in the program’s workshop sessions offered the opportunity for students to re-configure their relationships with each other, their teachers and the larger practice of schooling. A discussion of both the potential and risk of a “pedagogy of informality” is posited in light of current discussions in the literature of alternative education in Australia.

KEYWORDS:

• Alternative learning
• engagement
• inter-relationality
• informality
• pedagogy of informality

Acknowledgments

The project from which this article reports was funded by the Queensland Government Department of Education ”Education Horizon” program, project number Education Horizon 1006304. The authors would like to thank the Department for their support of this project.

Ethical Clearance

Ethical Clearance for the project reported in this paper was issued by the host university, number H16REA253. Informed consent of all participants and their parents/guardians was secured, along with institutional approval from the case school to conduct this research as part of the program discussed in this paper.

Notes

1. As distinct from alternative learning programs that operate in settings away from school. Te Reile (2014) identifies the nuance within these distinctions in her comprehensive analysis of the typology of alternative learning programs in Australian schools.

2. Further programs within the suite of alternative learning options offered included a “Pallet Build” workshop, the “Rock and Water” mindfulness program, a sports administration training program and an applied media program.

3. The bicycles used in Bike Build were provided through the Queensland Police. These bicycles were unclaimed bicycles held and cleared by the Police, and provided a useful source of donor bikes and parts from which the program progressed.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Queensland Government Department of Education and Training [Education Horizon].

Notes on contributors

Andrew Hickey

Andrew Hickey is Associate Professor in Communications in the School of Arts and Communication at the University of Southern Queensland, Australia.

Tanya Pauli-Myler

Tanya Pauli-Myler is a PhD candidate in the School of Arts and Communication at the University of Southern Queensland, Australia.

Carly Smith

Carly Smith is a PhD candidate in the School of Arts and Communication at the University of Southern Queensland, Australia.