This paper focuses on how alternative schooling programs influence young people's understanding of themselves in relation to their school life.

In Denmark, all lower secondary schools are now required to offer alternative, craft-based programs aimed at students who are disengaged from traditional academic pathways. These programs emphasize manual skills, motivation, and practical learning.

My study explores the intersection between politically informed initiatives and the underlying logics and ideologies that shape this alternative, craft-based educational programs in Denmark. It examines how these frameworks influence the lived experiences and meaning-making processes of young people within specific educational settings.

Using a decentered view of learning from a situated perspective, the project critically engages with issues of social inequality, class, and cultural difference, highlighting how broader structural conditions are negotiated and reproduced in everyday (school)life practices. Inspired by critical psychology and Jane Laves situated learning theory, I approach learning as a changing practice, that is influent by cultural norms, political change and struggles over what learning are for (Lave). By following young people closely, the project explores how they navigate diverse demands, participate differently across contexts, and develop self-understandings as “suited for school”.

The paper invites discussion on how social differences - particularly those related to class and culture - contribute to experiences of marginalization and alienation. It also raises questions about how educational spaces can foster belonging in times of institutional and societal trans-formation, and how responsibilities for supporting vulnerable children are distributed within educational systems.