This chapter provides a systematic overview of the case studies discussed in this book. It is divided into rough ‘types’ for ease of reference, using the same typology found in Table 1.1. The chapter is intended as a touchstone for the later, thematic chapters, providing some historical, practical and theoretical background so that examples and quotations do not appear out of context. Each section includes an outline of the following with regard to each type: history, development and key proponents (where appropriate); main pedagogical principles and practices; academic research concerning that approach; significant ‘moments’ where that approach appears in this book. Each section ends with a note on the distribution of each type of alternative education in the UK (and elsewhere, where appropriate) and a note on the kinds of examples visited in the course of the research for this book. In terms of academic research, it will quickly become clear that there is relatively little research regarding some educational types, while there exist significant bodies of research on others. I conclude by summarising some significant areas for further development in academic research on alternative learning spaces, again making the case for more broadbased comparative, multi-site studies.

Care farms

Care farms exist throughout western Europe and North America (Sempik and Aldridge, 2006). In the main, care farms are working, productive farms that also provide some kinds of ‘health, social and educational services’ (Hassink et al, 2010). Such services are usually provided by farmers themselves, although in many of the examples I visited, extra staff with specialist skills (including education officers) are employed to engage with the public. As Hine et al (2008, p 1) put it: ‘care farming is defined as the use of commercial farms and agricultural landscapes as a base for promoting mental and physical health, through normal farming activity.’ Most farms are specifically engaged in ‘caring’ activities – ‘health-promoting interventions that […] use both biotic and abiotic elements of nature in treatments [that aim] to maintain or promote a person's social, physical, mental or even educational wellbeing (Haubenhofer et al, 2010 p 106).