3A: How to achieve success in meeting the needs and interests of learners

Many young offenders do not expect to be treated with respect and consequently may not show respect to others. Guidance and support can help to reinforce positive behaviour and will reassure learners that they can overcome their barriers to learning. Many young offender institutions are involved in creative and imaginative projects and activities to promote the development of individual literacy, numeracy and language skills beyond what is available through the core curriculum. Initiatives help to improve learners’ basic skills and widen participation within a secure learning environment. In the female estate, there is a peer partnership scheme where inmates offer reading support to other young prisoners.

Learners may also receive effective work-related pre-release preparation where staff in the education department work closely with the institution’s resettlement unit. In some instances, learners are required to take a week’s preparation for work programme, which can be useful and helpful for them upon release. Externally there are productive links with organisations, which are of direct benefit to learners. These thriving partnerships work to widen participation for learners on Skills for Life provision. They include links with external music and drama groups, sports organisations, careers offices and Connexions, major charities, the Child Support Agency, health visitors, local universities and writers’ networks.

Use of the national standards

The national standards for literacy, numeracy and language (ESOL) must form the basis of all programmes for young offenders. The national curricula allow for flexibility in meeting learners’ needs and motivations. This may be through traditional and non-traditional learning and vocational training programmes. All lesson plans and schemes of work should be cross-referenced to the national standards and curricula.

In some institutions, there has been a traditional approach to learning with little flexibility in the timetabling of literacy and numeracy classes. There have also been few opportunities for learners to progress from Level 2 to higher level qualifications. Timetables should not limit the number of learners who can attend training through offering only a few sessions that are too lengthy. Young offenders soon lose interest and concentration in these circumstances, and this may contribute to poor behaviour. The provision should be carefully planned to give the maximum opportunity to all young offenders to access it. Also, learners should not feel undermined because they require additional support.

Meeting the needs of individuals is also about integrating basic skills with vocational areas of learning. It means offering a flexible teaching and support programme to enable a wide number of learners to improve their literacy, numeracy and language skills. They will require access to courses up to and above Level 2 and, where appropriate, separate ESOL provision.

All ESOL lessons must address learner needs across the four skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing, using the guidance in the ESOL curriculum. Opportunities to provide accreditation for skills gained in work activities should be developed and implemented in all areas. Schemes of work for vocational courses must identify basic or key skills elements and the arrangements for monitoring and reviewing the efficacy of literacy, numeracy and language support.

Effective providers will provide a strategic focus to improve the employability of young prisoners to help them enter sustained employment, education or training on release.

Developing support materials

At HMP and YOI Holloway, there are very good support materials to meet the needs of ESOL learners. The education department received LSC and ESF funding to create a range of ESOL resources. Tutors have developed a high-quality set of self-study modules to develop learners’ language in the context of living in prison. There are currently 39 modules that learners can study in their cells or away from the classroom. Titles relate to the everyday activities of prison life and include ‘Going to ESOL classes’, ‘Working in the wing’, ‘Doing time’, ‘Working in the library ‘and ‘Buying things from the canteen’. Learners also develop good language skills through the use of tapes to reinforce these modules.

Corresponding teaching materials focus on issues such as health, prison work, reception, education and legal matters which help to reinforce learning. Each module has clear learning objectives with a range of skills that the learner will practise such as listening to instructions and reading and guessing meaning from context. Symbols, graphics and diagrams are used to enhance the quality of the learning materials. The following is an extract from the module ‘Going to ESOL classes’ that shows learners the layout of the teaching room with instructions to find the position of objects in the room.

Sample of ESOL materials

View a sample of ESOL materials

Equality and diversity

Equal opportunities training for learners should be provided at induction and reinforced throughout learning. Policies and procedures, including complaints procedures, should be in place and prominently displayed. Materials must reflect effective practice for teaching and learning as promoted in the Skills for Life strategy. All resources need to promote awareness of cultural, ethnicity and gender issues. All young prisoners should have equal access to learning programmes that suit their individual needs, including the needs of learners at Pre-entry Level.

Appropriate arrangements must be in place for young prisoners to practise their faiths. The prison structure should support religious practices by offering facilities such as multi-faith prayer rooms. This may also need to include separate preparation and cooking areas for certain faiths.

Education staff at HMP and YOI Holloway have good resources for providing information on equality and diversity for their ESOL learners. One of a series of self-study ESOL modules that learners use is entitled ‘Respecting other people’. It contains very clear information in simple language with graphics and symbols about different forms of discrimination, how to ask for things in the prison and how to deal with problems. The extract below is from a module on dealing with prejudice.

Sample of equal opportunities materials

View a sample of equal opportunities materials

Progression

Succeeding in literacy and numeracy gives many young offenders access to other qualifications and programmes that help to build confidence and aid their future employment prospects. Wherever possible, young offenders should be encouraged to work towards nationally accredited qualifications. Structured courses will increase learners’ confidence and raise their self-esteem.

 

Vocational instructors and teachers should work with specialist literacy, numeracy and ESOL staff to find ways of helping learners to develop and practise their skills.

Differentiated activities should be carefully planned within vocational workshops to enable learners to practise their skills in real and relevant contexts. Individual learning activities should be offered in as wide a range of learning contexts and settings as possible within the regime.

Remember that allowing learners to try new things and take the opportunity to broaden their experience has a positive effect on the motivation they feel in relation to their future and possible employment.

Information on progression should be clearly highlighted when planning learning programmes. Advice and guidance should be available to young offenders in order to provide them with progression routes in education or employment upon release. Resettlement issues such as substance abuse, housing, and education and training should be addressed at the beginning of a young offender’s sentence. Some young offenders are released on probation orders into the community on temporary licence and are required to attend learning courses. Young offenders who are serving fewer than 12 months are released on licence halfway through their sentence and then supervised by probation in the community for three months.

There are a number of projects that help to support young offenders with basic skills in the community. One charity has volunteers who support teachers delivering literacy and numeracy courses to learners on probation at a local college. The volunteers mentor and support individual young offenders to help them achieve their basic skills qualifications. Some young offenders can also be released to attend overnight residential courses that are run by national charities.