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

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]