Correctional Education and Professional Development

1. Correctional Education

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• Is the perfect prison program. Its benefits are not obvious until their effect is already secured.

• The development of a productive, pro-educational viewpoint is the highest aim we can realise from a sentence behind bars.

• For the incarcerated,

"... education is real hope".   Austin MacCormick

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1. For the prisoner, for his family and for the community, education is the way to change and to better outcomes.

2. The prisoner does not realise exactly what he has learned until he already has learned it.

3. Education is really important in relation to intergenerational crime.

4. It is the key that unlocks opportunity and a different life.

 

 

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2. Correctional Education developed many modern educational practices

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• Compulsory attendance

• Systematic development of individualised instruction

• VET and trade training

 

1. ​CE served as a lab for many educational ideas and they were then adopted by community based schools.

 

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At this point, have a look at the PDF attached below.  It is a questionnaire which asks you some questions relating to the history of Correctional Education generally.  See how you go.  (Note: You may like to print the questions out and go through them with your colleagues.) 

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3.  Communicating in the Department

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• Official KPI’s for EVTU are determined by DCS.

• ​These KPIs are influenced by Govt. policy, consultants and other public service staff.

• The focus of CE and EVTU is student learning.

• Though the two KPIs may seem to differ, they are not mutually exclusive, though ...

 

Communication related to these KPI’s may seem to indicate otherwise:

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1. Govt policy considers education leads to employment and employment reduces recidivism as the major factor in the issue.

2. EVTU is an educational body and it adheres to adult literacy principles – it is student centred.

3. Warminda responds to required KPI’s easily = reduced recidivism reports have been available since 2010, we have Pathlore Reports aplenty.

4. Our focus is more toward completions than participation and as total students served in a year as the better performance indicators. ACEA will put this forward to Productivity Commission.

5. The reports, correspondence and communication released by Warminda are for the DCS HO ... the work in the prisons lies at heart of our work – no conflict .

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4. Curriculum

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• The incorporation of elements to address anti-social behaviour by improving self-awareness and interpersonal communication into specific VET units.

• Promoting positive life change.

• Integrated content ABE+VET+SSG.

• Correctional education is then qualitatively different but still meets VET requirements.

• Non-CE trained providers are then not the same as EVTU staff.

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Few people working in Corrections Education start out with that as a career goal.  Unlike traditional classroom teaching, almost everyone has taken a different path to arrive at this point.  Take a few moments now to read the story of one such employee of the Department of Corrections in Western Australia.  Her journey can be found here

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5. Correctional Education (CE) and Prison Reform

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We believe:

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• That prisoners are capable of transforming their lives.

• That this makes CE correctional and links it to prison reform.

• We share a common goal with advocates of prison reform -- to reform prisons and prisoner.

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1. CE has always been at the forefront of introducing change to the prison system- to remind people and the department that the prison is part of the community; to remind people that almost every prisoner will be released and so it is better to educate them than not.  Teachers operate on the principle that attitudes, ideas and behaviour can be corrected.

 

6. Adoption of Law Abiding Lifestyles

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• The ability to survive economically, without breaking the law, results largely from education and basic skill development.

• People who do not communicate in a socially acceptable manner are not usually effective in earning their own living.

• Reading, writing, speaking, and numeracy skills are important for coping in any cultural setting, and each prisoner needs a foundation in these areas.

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1. While securing employment is one of the most important factors in reducing recidivism and remaining crime free, not every prisoner will be able to secure a job for a number of reasons: long criminal record; no previous employment experience; lack of appropriate skills for labour market; detrimental reputation in the community.

2. In some cases, maybe that the best outcome for the prisoner, community and their family is for the prisoner to support the educational process by encouraging family to participate in it and achieve a good education while staying law abiding.

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7. Keeping Your Work in the Public Eye

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• There is no viable alternative to low cost, high visibility programs;

• Correctional education is the best example of this type of intervention and;

• The education and training services provided by EVTU, its staff and partners is specifically one of those programs in WA.

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1. EVTU participation in events and ceremonies which can highlight achievements and the good work done by staff is a major strategy in maintaining the EVTU’s high visibility and recognition.

2. The distribution of research reports which reveal that correctional and vocational training are the two most effective and cost efficient programs delivered in prisons is another planned strategy to highlight the low costs of the EVTU and correctional education to prisons, governments and other interested parties.

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8. Why is CE’s role so important to the Rehabilitation Process?

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The link between thinking skills and crime.

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Criminals:

• Often are unable to problem-solve;

• Are impulsive and irrational; and

• Lack social perspective and moral reasoning.

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“These thinking problems are precisely the ones that education can best address.”   Thom Gehring

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9. Rehabilitation and Interventions

 

• ​Government Aims for Education and Programs.

• Primary aim of rehabilitation is to avoid harm to the community rather than to improve prisoners’ quality of life.

• The aim is basically about risk reduction and management.

• This is the justification for expending taxpayers funds on rehabilitation. 

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