Lack of education for prisoners serving longer sentences

Inmates serving four years or more are missing out as training is geared towards those serving shorter sentences

Prison education is failing to meet the needs of people serving longer sentences, according to Ofsted.

While most jails are running training programmes for offenders detained for a year or less, the inspectorate has identified few if any with learning strategies for those inside for four years and more.

Programmes are designed around the average lengths of stay in particular institutions and do not suit prisoners who stay for longer or who move on to another jail, Ofsted finds.

The absence of a national system for recording offenders' progress severely hinders their chances of continuing to advance when transferred to another institution or when they are freed, conclude two reports by the inspectorate into education for long- and short-serving offenders.

Ofsted's chief inspector, Christine Gilbert, said: "The learning needs of long- and short-term offenders are particularly challenging and complex, but it's crucial their needs are met and every learning opportunity is fulfilled."

She called for "greater overall consistency in the provision of learning programmes and a national system for recording data, so that offenders are given every opportunity to progress and develop their skills during the period of their custody and on release".

Roughly two-thirds of those in prison have poor literacy or numeracy, or both. A good range of programmes is available when individuals' needs are identified, Ofsted has found. Some courses concentrate on reading, writing and arithmetic, and other vocational programmes – catering or physical education, say - include these basic skills in their training.

But the great majority of prisons report high numbers of offenders nearing the end of long sentences who still have poor literacy and numeracy. Although staff in most prisons recognise that poor basic skills hinder eventual job prospects, it does not seem to be realised that they also prevent offenders getting the full benefit of other vocational and social activities while inside.


"In particular, learning and skills strategies do not recognise the need and benefit of improving these skills to a level where other programmes, such as offending behaviour programmes, become more accessible and beneficial," says the report into offenders on longer sentences.


"They do not give sufficient emphasis to the benefits of developing these skills early on in an offender's sentence."


Ofsted wants the Learning and Skills Council and the National Offender Management Service to find ways of improving literacy, numeracy and language programmes.

More account should be taken of the limitations on offenders on short sentences, many of whom are also on drug and alcohol detoxification.

In general, prisons need systems for diagnosing offenders' individual learning needs more quickly and accurately, the inspectorate recommends.

Prison education too often fails to build on offenders' existing skills and what they have picked up previously during their sentences, the report's compilers found on visits to 19 prisons.

"Advice and planning was predominantly focused on what was available in that prison rather than the long-term needs of the offender," says the report.

This tended to be designed around the average sentence in the prison and longer-term prisoners quickly exhausted what was on offer. This is a particular problem in open prisons.

"In one prison the curriculum repeated every six weeks and many offenders on long sentences had attended what was available and were left with few opportunities to develop further," the report notes.

Inspectors found little opportunity for prisoners possessing level 2 qualifications (five good GCSEs or the equivalent) to go further, though in "better prisons" there were some opportunities for them to work as peer mentors or train as guidance workers.

All of the prisons visited offered distance-learning programmes – Open University degrees, for instance – for inmates with the ability and time to do them. But above level 2, these are not usually publicly funded. Offenders need to pay themselves or find the fees from charity.

In each of the prisons visited, between 20 and 50 offenders were on distance-learning programmes. The better prisons gave them effective support, providing a dedicated study room with tutor support and computers.




Working alongside professionals

At first glance you would assume that all the men learning how to install and repair gas cookers and boilers were prisoners, but you would be wrong.

Some of those working in pairs and small groups have come from outside.

In an arrangement probably unique in the prison system, inmates at HMP Spring Hill in Buckinghamshire are able to do training courses alongside professional plumbers and tradesmen who have popped in to update their skills.

"This course has given me a qualification which I can use to get full-time employment as a gas fitter," Paul, one of the first prisoners to be offered a place on the scheme, told the Ofsted in-house magazine. "The future for me now is positive. I am looking forward to coming out of prison and going straight."

Colin Wilson, an engineer based in Watford, only realised he would be training inside a prison alongside prisoners when he turned up to start his course. "It makes no difference to me, I treat everybody the same," he said. "All the guys here get on and we learn a lot off each other."

The prison provides free premises for a training company on the understanding that prisoners can take advantage of its courses, which include training for jobs in the health and leisure industry.

A gym and fitness centre, being built by prisoners using bricklaying skills they have been taught at Spring Hill will be open not just to trainees from outside but also to members of the public. The gas training centre was also built by prisoners, saving public money. There are plans to develop a facility for an agricultural college, enabling prisoners to train for careers in farming and horticulture.

Spring Hill, Britain's first open prison, houses 334 male prisoners, most serving between four and 10 years, but some doing life and preparing to resettle into the community. Every morning, up to half leave the prison for college or to work for local businesses – either on placement or as full-time, paid employees.

Prisoners are encouraged to pursue a range of courses, from cookery to music technology, run by Milton Keynes College.

Ofsted inspectors have commended this "entrepreneurial" approach and "outstanding partnership working" that has enabled Spring Hill to develop its wide range of employability programmes.

"The more ways we can help prisoners to learn, the better," says Andy Woodley, head of learning and skills at the prison.

"Giving prisoners the skills they need to find meaningful employment after release means they are much less likely to reoffend. Our reoffending rate is just 5%, compared to a national average of 70%. We feel we are making a difference."