This paper is concerned with the rise of 'the boot camp' as a means of addressing "the problem of troubled youth" in contemporary industrialised nations such as Australia and the UK. Drawing on a corpus of publicly available material including press releases and policy documents, media reports, and programme websites, the paper explores…

This paper reports on research conducted in alternative schools/flexible learning centres designed to support young people marginalised from mainstream schooling in Australia. Many of the young people attending these centres had left school due to difficult personal circumstances and/or significant conflicts with schooling authorities. We argue…

Recalls a conflict in an Australian high school where a student committee on social justice was blocked from displaying a poster discussing homophobic attitudes. Uses this incident for a broader discussion of hegemony, school culture, and how social justice initiatives threaten that hegemony. Identifies various restricting school strategies. (MJP)