3B: What is ‘success’ in meeting the needs and interests of learners?

In Essex Probation Area, ESOL learners who have committed driving offences and who have a requirement on their pre-sentence report to attend a course on driving, have access to Driving Ahead. Driving Ahead is a course where ESOL is embedded in driving theory. Offenders attend Driving Ahead twice a week for 10 weeks. If offenders complete the course successfully, they receive an Open College Network certificate. The course has been well received by offenders, sentencers, Southend Refugee Council and the Prince’s Trust.

Employment is a key offender need. Nationally, there are many examples of literacy being embedded in employment programmes, for example by focusing on jobsearch strategies, CVs, writing an application letter and interview skills. In Lincolnshire, offenders have access to literacy and numeracy teaching that is embedded in vocational areas. Literacy and numeracy skills that need attention are identified through assessment. Vocational areas covered include painting and decorating, woodwork and horticulture.

Dorset Probation Area has highlighted the poor speaking and listening skills of many offenders on community supervision as a barrier to employment. A range of speaking and listening activities, such as telephone skills, has therefore been introduced. For instance, during teaching sessions, probation staff ring up offenders to ask something. The offenders have to remember the information and give the correct message to the relevant individual.

The Education Manager at Nottinghamshire Probation Area cited the example of an offender who was unemployed at the start of community supervision. In literacy classes, the offender worked on CVs, application letters and interview skills. While on community supervision, he got a job as a bus driver and subsequently worked through employment-related documents, such as the driver’s manual, in literacy classes.

One learner who was interested in writing poetry produced a booklet of his poems that he had produced while attending literacy classes. He commented, ‘Only a year ago these poems wouldn’t have been possible. But thanks to the Probation Service and PALS [the probation-based provider], I am now able to put my feelings on paper. Before I came to PALS I thought I could get through life without really being able to read or write properly but I was wrong. Anyway, please enjoy [my poems].’

As part of their community supervision, many offenders attend offending behaviour programmes. These are cognitive skills programmes that aim to reduce re-offending by helping offenders to re-learn and change their thought processes. However, research has shown that there is a mismatch between the literacy demands of the programmes and the literacy skills of many offenders (Davies et al., 2004).

All offenders attend pre-group sessions to prepare for the offending behaviour programme. London and Lincolnshire Probation Areas have piloted embedded literacy in pre-group sessions in order to prepare offenders for the literacy demands of programme sessions. In Lincolnshire, a literacy teacher and the offender manager work together to deliver the pre-group sessions. The teacher focuses on speaking and listening skills, which are central to programme delivery, and skills such as skimming and scanning, which are important in reading the programme materials effectively. The offender manager focuses on the pre-programme psychometric tests, and guidance about the programme.

In Durham Probation Area, literacy is delivered alongside the general offending behaviour programme, Think First. The literacy demands of the programme content have been mapped against Key Skills in Communication. Offenders have an initial assessment. If they are at or near Level 1, they are given the opportunity to use relevant parts of the course to develop a portfolio for Key Skills. When they have finished the portfolio, offenders sit the national test at Level 1. If they are successful, offenders can therefore gain two qualifications. This initiative has been popular with offenders and Durham Probation Area is planning to develop it further.

The Move On approach to learning and gaining nationally recognised qualifications has been piloted with offenders on community supervision in Lincolnshire. The Education Training and Employment (ETE) Manager says that the Move On approach is popular because the course is a manageable length for offenders. Offenders potentially achieve two qualifications through the course, so it can bring a double sense of achievement. Because the Move On approach is skilfully marketed (that is, Move On aims to ‘brush up’ people’s skills, which implies a positive view of learners), it is not seen as intimidating or patronising.

In Sheffield, New Directions (the Sheffield-based programme run by the national charity The Rainer Trust) focuses on how to gain the interest and imagination of its learners. Classical music is played in class to help create a calm environment. New Directions aims to give plenty of praise and reinforcement to offenders, to make the learning relevant to their interests and to integrate practical tasks into the programme. For instance, learners enjoyed a text by a local author, The Gangs of Sheffield, in their literacy class. The poet Ian McMillan will be working with a group of offenders to produce a book about their lives and learning experiences.

In Merseyside, there are women-only classes for discrete literacy and numeracy, and a women-only Preparation for Employment course. The latter embeds literacy and numeracy into employment-related activities. The classes are taught by women. The Employment and Basic Skills Manager commented, ‘Many women in our hostels and elsewhere within probation have been subjected to a range of abusive situations and unfortunately many of the men we work with are abusers. A safe, worry-free environment where confidence can be built prior to access to mainstream is one of our priorities.’

Unsurprisingly, many offenders on community supervision have low self-esteem. Recognising achievement in literacy, numeracy and ESOL, whether through a qualification or achieving a milestone on an ILP, is an important way of increasing offenders’ self-confidence and encouraging them to participate in further learning. There are many examples of how success in learning is recognised through, for instance, award ceremonies, certificates, and articles in, for example, probation publications.

A presentation ceremony in Nottinghamshire Probation Area.