Alternative educational programmes and alternative schools have been a feature of the educational landscape for some 50 years or more. These alternatives cater for children and young people who have generally experienced a variety of forms of exclusion during their schooling (Arnold, Yeomans, & Simpson, 2009; Sparkes & Glennerster, 2002). In some jurisdictions, a common aim of alternative education programmes is to return students to ‘regular schools’ (Slee, 2011). However, research suggests that young people who go back into regular schools from alternative programmes and short-term placements find it difficult, as nothing within the regular school has changed since they first left (Carswell, Hanlon, Watts, & O’Grady, 2014; Cox, 1999). Thus, alternative schools often aim to provide a permanent alternative route to further education, work or training. In so doing, they provide a convenient way for schools to continue unchanged, engaging in a range of exclusionary practices (Araujo, 2005; Mills, Riddell, & Hjorne, 2015). Whether young people return to regular school or continue with an alternative education programme, the regular school remains a critical social justice problem.