Disability and disengagement: What Flexible Learning Program enrollments reveal about our about our education system

Flexible Learning Programs (FLPs) exist to support students who, for a variety of reasons, have disengaged from mainstream education. FLPs operate on an assumption that students have arrived at their door due to significant and ongoing behavioural concerns such as truancy, aggression, and disrespectful or disinterested behaviour. This presentation reports on the findings of a study exploring the characteristics of students enrolled in (number) FLPs across Australia, and poses a provocative question: Why is it that students with disabilities are significantly overrepresented in FLPs? This presentation explores challenging terrain, including a discussion about which disabilities are most prevalent among the student populations at FLPs; how and why children with disabilities are exiting mainstream schools; and, why students with certain disabilities are more likely to disengage, ore be excluded, from mainstream education.