Alternative education programmes, in the form of vocational education and flexible or personalised curricula, are rapidly becoming established as a main plank in both mainstream and special schools' responses to pupil disaffection. In this paper, "alternative curriculum" will be used as an umbrella term to include all forms of curricula which are different to that which is on offer to the main pupil population "and" which are offered in response to concerns about pupil disaffection and disengagement. The focus of this paper will be on those programmes which are offered to a minority of pupils as a response to concerns about their behaviour. The research reported here was part of a study exploring the experiences of young people identified as having social, emotional and behaviour difficulties (SEBD) who were placed in a special school. Interviews were carried out with a total of 14 pupils from two schools. Pupils were invited to talk about their school experiences in general and their views on the curriculum and relationships with teachers both in mainstream and in the specialist provision. (Contains 1 table.)