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Home Office Online Report 14/04
Seven probation areas were selected to develop basic skills
projects under central guidance from the National Probation
Directorate. Evaluation was carried out by a multi-disciplinary
team, including the Probation Studies Unit in the University
of Oxford Centre for Criminological Research, who worked with
the project team. They established that a third of the sample
of approximately 10,000 offenders probably had basic skills
needs at the lowest level - below Level 1. There was a high
unemployment rate among offenders, with a strong association
between unemployment and poor basic skills. Only a small proportion
of those with basic skills needs had access to provision.
Of those who did, attendance was often sporadic and drop-out
rates were high. On average, 35% failed to turn up when referred
to provision and the most frequent number of sessions attended
was two (the average was six). The researchers reported that
there was a clear need for motivational strategies, a flexible
approach to take account of individuals' needs, and probation
staff that were committed to basic skills interventions.
Download the full report (pdf file) from: www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs04/rdsolr1404.pdf
McMahon, G., Hall, A., Hayward, G., Hudson, C., Roberts,
C., Fernandez, R. and Burnett, R. (2004). Basic skills programmes
in the Probation Service: evaluation of the Basic Skills Pathfinder.
Oxford: University of Oxford/London: The Home Office.
The emerging findings of the pathfinder evaluation and some
of the issues for basic skills staff working in the unfamiliar
surroundings of the probation service are summarised below.
- Language - the majority
of tutors commented that they found much of the National
Probation Service (NPS) terminology, and acronyms, difficult
to understand.
- NPS aims - most tutors saw
themselves as educators and did not explicitly link their
work with the overarching aim of the NPS to reduce re-offending.
- NPS practices - Values were
not always shared between the two sets of professionals.
Breach is when an offender fails to attend two or more appointments
which are part of his/her order, and is a serious issue
in the NPS. When it happens, the offender is sent back to
court to be re-sentenced. In some pathfinder projects, attendance
at initial assessment and basic skills provision was compulsory.
However, most tutors thought this was inappropriate because
they felt offenders should not be forced to learn.
- The NPS environment - the
security necessary in probation offices were felt by some
tutors as not conducive to creating a learning environment.
Some teachers did not have access to a room that was appropriate
for teaching and learning.
- Offenders' complex range of needs
- as well as poor learning experiences and basic
skills needs, many offenders had other problems around,
for example, drugs or substance misuse, accommodation, relationships
or employment, resulting in many cases in chaotic lifestyles
which affected their capacity to learn as well as their
attendance at basic skills classes.
The emerging findings identified that tutors coped in one
of three ways:
The explorer: some tutors relished the challenge and
were creative and proactive in getting to grips with, initially,
an alien environment. These tutors visited probation offices
in their area to speak about basic skills at NPS team meetings,
ran basic skills awareness sessions for judges and magistrates
and worked with senior management to raise the profile of
basic skills. Some invited external providers to visit the
probation office to increase their understanding of offenders
on community orders.
The tourist: This group of tutors performed their
job adequately but did not really engage with the NPS culture
and tended not to be proactive in getting basic skills embedded
into the NPS culture.
The stay-at-home type: There was a small minority
of tourists who found the unknown threatening and engaged
with the NPS culture as little as possible.
The author concludes that continuing professional development
would help reduce tutors' sense of isolation. It was urgently
needed because the implementation of the NPS basic skills
framework and the targets mean that more tutors will be required
to work with offenders on NPS supervision. Training should
include:
- how basic skills may contribute to the NPS aim of reducing
re-offending;
- NPS terminology, values and practices;
- drug awareness;
- complex range of needs among many offenders; and
- strategies to manage challenging behaviours.
Reference:
This is a summary of an article written in 2003 for the Basic
Skills Agency magazine by Caroline Hudson, Basic Skills Agency
Development Officer seconded to the National Probation Service.
The final report (see above) was published
by the Home Office in 2004.
Julia Braggins and Jenny Talbot, Prison Reform Trust, 2003
Background to the study
The publication of this report coincides with significant
and rapid developments in prison education and training policy
and funding. The study set out to gain prisoners' perceptions
of education in prison to inform the direction of the developments
and to influence change. It involved semi-structured group
discussions of 153 prisoners in 10 prisons, learners and those
not in learning, representing a wide range including, sentenced
prisoners and those of remand, young offenders and adults,
black and ethnic minority prisoners, women prisoners, and
security categories from open prisons to high security. The
report forms a companion study to the Wings
of Learning report, below.
Barriers to learning
The report identified two broad issues that encouraged
or discouraged learning: process-type issues and people issues.
Process barriers included initial assessment and whether this
was followed up in terms of meeting identified education needs,
including poor literacy and numeracy. Other general issues
that discourage participation in education included applications
for education not getting through; poor rates of pay discouraged
many from studying; timetabling issues - prisoners sometimes
having to choose between coming to classes, and going to the
library or the gym; rules about study equipment in cells;
and unsupportive cellmates.
Recommendations
The report acknowledges that many of the concerns made by
prisoners are already being tackled by the Offenders' Learning
and Skills Unit (OLSU), but it stresses the need for changes
in policy and culture across the prison system, as well as
changes on a more practical level than can be implemented
locally. A number of major recommendations were made, including
- that education and training should be integral to the
resettlement of prisoners and recognised as an important
contribution to reducing offending;
- there should be a national strategy to identify the key
barriers to learning in prison and to address them;
- the curriculum should be equally relevant to all prisoners,
taking into account the massive range of different abilities,
motivation, prior learning experience and attainment, as
well as the needs of certain groups, for example, black
and ethnic minority prisoners;
- stronger links between prison education and library staff
should be established, with greater emphasis on recruiting
and retaining high quality prison education staff; and
- OLSU should champion, and fund, best practice that encourages
those prisoners who have rejected more traditional forms
of education, in particular the more imaginative blends
of learning provision, eg the overlaying of creative arts
classes and vocational training, or attendance at gym with
the basic and key skills, and flexible learning.
For more information, including how to order (price £10)
visit www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk
Braggins, J. and Talbot, J. (2003). Time to Learn: Prisoners'
Views on Prison Education. London: Prison Reform Trust.
This study was aimed at discovering how officers viewed prison
education, what support they could offer, and how it might
best be given in the future. Researchers visited 12 prisons
in England and Wales, and small group interviews were carried
out with a total of 77 prison officers. The report forms a
companion study to the Time to Learn report,
above.
The report concludes that officers felt that prisoner education
was important, although they had different priorities from
learning and skills professionals. They felt they had a role
to play (and would like opportunities to do more) but they
did not think that they were given either enough time or enough
training to fulfil their existing job description properly.
The report argues that no further progress will be possible
in officer involvement with prisoner learning until these
issues are addressed. As the National Offender Management
Service gets under way, a review of the prison officer's role,
training and support would be timely.
Download the full report from: www.esmeefairbairn.org.uk/grants_reports.html#Wings
Braggins, J. and Talbot, J. (2005). Wings of Learning: the
role of the prison officer in supporting prisoner education.
London: The Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, King's College
London.
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