Education and Training for Offenders: A NIACE Policy Discussion Paper.

Overview & Synopsis

Past and present policies and practices in education and vocational training for offenders in the United Kingdom were examined. Changes in the content, delivery, and funding of education and vocational training for offenders over the past decade were reviewed. Special attention was paid to the following changes that took place in 2001: (1) transfer of responsibility for support of education and training in prisons from Education Services to the new Prisoners Learning and Skills Unit; (2) for the first time, education for prisoners received its own clearly allocated funding, and funding for prisoners was increased; and (3) inspection and evaluation of funding for prisoners were strengthened by adding inspectors from the Office for Standards in Education and from the Further Education Council's Funding Inspectorate to the team of prison inspectors. Forty-seven specific recommendations pertaining to areas such as the following were presented: (1) revision of the core curriculum to meet the needs of particular groups within the overall prison population; (2) procedures for awarding contracts for prisoner education; (3) development of an overall strategy for vocational training within the prison system and within individual establishments; (4) development of an information and computer technology strategy for prisons; and (5) universal application of screening to identify prisoners with learning difficulties and language and basic skill needs. (MN)