inTuition taster: Unlocking potential

Prison has three purposes: to protect the public, to punish criminals, and also to rehabilitate prisoners, giving them the chance to build new lives after their release.

Without adequate education services in prison, the chances of effective rehabilitation, future employment and avoiding reoffending are reduced. Participating in education also helps to improve prisoners’ mental health and behaviour.

However, the UK’s prisons are in crisis. According to the most recent figures from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), there were about 97,700 people in prison in the UK during March 2024: 87,900 in England and Wales, 8,000 in Scotland and 1,900 in Northern Ireland.

The prison population in England and Wales has doubled during the past 30 years, growing 13 per cent during the past three years alone. With the system at bursting point, the previous government began a controversial early-release programme earlier this year, which the new Labour government has continued.

Staff numbers have grown, but not fast enough, meaning prisoners are often locked in their cells most of the time, with not enough staff to escort them safely to classrooms. The pandemic exacerbated all these problems and the return to normal conditions is not yet complete.

The chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor provided a bleak description of the current state of prisons in an article for The Spectator in July 2024: “The lack of any meaningful activities for prisoners is one of the starkest signs of the strain on our jails,” he wrote, suggesting that this contributes to widespread drug use. He added that the dilapidated state of many prison buildings “should be a source of shame for any civilised country”.

“The quality of education and training is almost universally poor,” Taylor continued. “When visiting prisons, I continue to find empty classrooms and workshops. Men are spending up to 22 hours a day locked in tiny cells with nothing to do. Half of all prisoners are functionally illiterate and yet few are taught to read.”

Education gap

MoJ figures show that 65 per cent of adult prisoners taking initial assessments between April 2022 and March 2023 had literacy levels between 1 and 3, including 27 per cent at Level 1, while 68 per cent had numeracy levels between 1 and 3, including 25 per cent at Level 1.

In addition, Ofsted has found that almost one in three prisoners (30 per cent) have a learning difficulty and/or disability, often only diagnosed in prison. In these circumstances, it is not surprising that so much prison education should be based on Level 1 or 2 literacy or numeracy, although in theory prisoners should also be able to access a much wider range of educational opportunities.

There are some signs of improvement: some prisons have received ‘Good’ inspection outcomes from Ofsted, although many more are still judged inadequate. Some 63,744 prisoners participated in education or training in England and Wales during 2022/23, up from 49,855 the previous year.

At present, delivery of core education in English and Welsh prisons is through four providers: Milton Keynes College, Novus, PeoplePlus and Weston College. Individual prison governors have also been able to commission additional learning services via a purchasing system overseen by the MoJ. Different education systems are used in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

This system is changing. In late 2023 the Conservative government announced the introduction of a new Prisoner Education Service (PES) in England and Wales, including new contracts for core education provision. In theory, these will be approved in October 2024 and signed the following month, with delivery due to start in spring 2025. At the time of writing there has been some speculation in the prison education sector that the latter date may be delayed by several months, although this has not been confirmed by the MoJ.

Fresh thinking

Charities working to support prison education, such as the Prisoners’ Education Trust (PET), have urged the government to ensure that the new contracts do not prioritise value for money above all other considerations, and allow a greater degree of flexibility in the way provision is delivered. Another change announced in 2023 may help: the appointment of new heads of education, skills and work in every prison, to work with prison governors to create tailored education plans for each prison. 

PET is one of many charities delivering education services to complement core education services. It offers 130 different distance learning courses in more than 120 prisons, including GCSEs, A Levels in 13 subjects, Open University Access modules in arts and science subjects, and various professional and general interest courses. Course materials are posted to individual learners via prison education departments, with many courses also supported by a tutor with whom prisoners can communicate via post or phone.

PET CEO Jon Collins hopes the new heads of education, skills and work in each prison will help ensure more resources are available for education.

But the key factor, he suggests, is funding. The overall budget for prison education has been stuck at about £129m per year since 2015, with most of this (about £116m) being spent on core education provision. “What would be significant amounts of money for the prison education sector, but small compared to the overall budget, would make a big difference,” says Collins.

Some funding will be needed to improve pay, conditions and opportunities for teachers and trainers. Research from the University and College Union completed in 2022 suggested seven out of 10 teachers were planning to leave prison education because of low pay, limited career development opportunities and difficult or unsafe working environments. “Professional development and peer support both need to be good to make prison education a more appealing career,” says Collins.

Online provision

Resources will also be needed to improve the technology available to support teaching. Availability of digital devices and internet access of any kind is extremely limited in prison, for obvious reasons. But technology can make a huge difference in delivering education through distance learning, and for any courses with a technology element. Prisoners also need to be ready for life after prison in an ever-more online world.

Professional development and peer support both need to be good to make prison education a more appealing career

Some laptops and other in-cell technology devices are now available for educational use in a few prisons. Core prison education providers have also started using technology in other ways. Prison education provider PeoplePlus works in 22 prisons in England, delivering more than 600 accredited courses to thousands of prisoners. It also provides advice and guidance before and after their release, and works with employers to help create and support job opportunities for ex-offenders.

PeoplePlus has also developed Wayout TV, an in-cell TV service. It was launched in 2014 and includes educational, faith-based and factual programming. The purely education-focused element, Way2Learn, offers in-cell study of subjects including food hygiene, LGV driving, customer service, health and safety in construction, creative writing and physical fitness.

Prisoners learn at their own pace, and this form of learning can be very useful for those who find it difficult to work in a more conventional classroom. Courses are accredited by the University of the West of England (UWE) at Bristol, and by the CPD Certification Service, so every learner receives a badged certificate on completing a course. Between January and July 2024 alone, more than 3,000 learners achieved accreditation.

A major effort has been made during the past two years to adapt Wayout TV content to better fit the needs of neurodiverse prisoners, with experts consulted on fonts and colours used when displaying information on screen and use of language. 

“Many learners have different types of learning difficulties that maybe were not properly assessed in the past, so it’s really positive that we’re all now taking neurodiversity more seriously,” says Jezz Wright, director of content and digital strategy at PeoplePlus and Wayout TV.

But whatever forms prison education takes in the longer term, at present most people working in this sector are hoping that the new government will help to continue improving prison education, building on the progress made since the pandemic.

The fact it has made addressing the prisons crisis a priority during its early weeks in office is encouraging, while Wright thinks many people in the justice sector will also welcome the appointment of James Timpson as minister for prisons, probation and reducing reoffending. “Everybody working in prisons right now is very excited about that appointment,” he says. “He has a proven track record in terms of help with prisoner rehabilitation.”

“We would really like [the government] to signal that education in prison is a priority,” adds Collins. “Prison education is not doing very well at the moment, but there are still brilliant teachers doing brilliant work. It can be utterly transformational.” 

David Adams is a freelance journalist

Image credit | Getty; Alamy