Contemporary Issues in European Prison Education

     Between 26 to 31 October 2011 I attended the training course "Contemporary Issues in European Prison Education - Learn To Be Free" organized by The Manchester College in collaboration with the European Prison Education Association and funded by the European Commission Programme on Lifelong Learning - Grundtvig.

     The main purpose of the event was to bring together practitioners, educational managers, researchers, policy makers and others working in education in prisons across Europe to provide a common framework in which to learn more about how to address some of the most important contemporary issues in education in prison, such as creative arts including relevance in digital media and IT, the importance of adequate training of teachers and educational skills and an awareness of the needs of a culturally diverse population.

    The objectives of the training course was to raise awareness of current issues and trends, to offer examples of best practice that can be taken forward, to encourage the implementation of new approaches and new technologies, to provide a forum for those engaged in research in the area of prison education, to provide an opportunity to network and share ideas for those working in prisons to identify common training and in-service needs and aspirations of prison teachers.

   The course was held simultaneously with EPEA Conference and included: debates in plenary, presentation materials, workshops, artistic activities supported by detainees and students from The Manchester College, art exhibition , visit to HM Prison Manchester.

     At the plenary sessions were presented studies and research on the future of education in prison, training methods for teachers, educators, trainers involved in the education of inmates, factors that adversely affect the educational process, aspects of social reintegration of detainees .

     Workshops have included a wide range of activities that can be carried out in adult education in prison - the need and their role in education, evaluation methods and results. The main topics discussed were: stimulate inmates to participate in educational activities, employment opportunities after serving their sentences, liaising with the family, what is the impact in the prison education when the inmates was transferred , challenges and opportunities at the distance learning, art in prison, self-evaluation and other topics particularly useful.

     It was a pleasure to meet  partners who were involved in the project „ A sense of being – building self esteem” and to talk about this project with the participants at the EPEA Conference.

     The 25 participants from 14 European Union countries have enjoyed all the attention and exceptional conditions offered by the organizers and went home with the hope that the information gained will be useful and lead to a good cooperation in future.

This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Italy - Report 2

REPORT 2

                                                            

In June 20, 2011 to June 22 2011 Professor Brian Maguire and Colm Laighneach came to Sciacca and Contessa Entellina, Sicily, Italy. They  visited the C.O.F.H.U.R. offices and got a fuller understanding about the methods of reaching young people who are neither in education or work.

Centro Orientamento e Formazione Human Resources was set up by young, newly qualified psychologists, who came together to provide training for the young people of the town who were unemployed,under educated and unlikely to improve their situation without intervention.

They employed trainers in IT and also individual counseling methods. Their classroom hold at the most 20 at a time. They are funded through government grants.

Their primary reason for attending this workshop with Irene Rita Persia and her staff was to tease out the quality and quantity of intervention as the prisoners are objectively in the same economic condition as those C.O.F.U.R. The conclusion is that the prison system in the different countries do attempt to match this kind of intervention but the numbers of staff are well below that of the 10 :1 ratio at a time in this organisation. Norway seems to be closest to the investment needed for takling unemployment in ex prisoners. Some countries with a different GDPs have adopted different models for example the Romania partner has an equal number of psychologists as teachers (although both disciplines were few in number) and Ireland where there are very few psychologists in the system but the prisonshave a good number of teachers.

Professor Brian Maguire was accompanied by NCAD graduate Colm Laighneach a graduate also of the special Art Course NCAD runs in Portlaoise Prison. The pair held a meeting with Anna Fucarino, head of the “Associazionie Agenti ed Operatori Dello Sviluppo Socioculturae” in the Albanian Village of Contessa Entellina and discussed the relevence of the program in Sciacca which is a large urban sea side resort. While the objectives are the same, it was felt that community action in attracting and creating specific employment was the best way for the village community to proceed to hold some of its young people. When the mobility to Ireland took place a special meeting was arranges for Irene Rita Persia and her staff to meet local activists and public representitives in a similar local area of Dublin City - the out come of that meeting given by Irene in the NCAD workshop was that the best way was that the trainers worked closely with Local and Representive Government. This is what is happening in Contessa Entellina.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.