This guide has been developed to support those working in prisons to offer a good range of high-quality formal and informal learning. It takes the user through the process of designing a curriculum - from beginning to end.
This report brings together ideas about training, supporting, and developing the prison teacher workforce. It sets out a vision of prison education as a meaningful career choice embedded in the mainstream teaching route, and makes a series of recommendations.
Based on interviews with over 50 staff in ten prisons, the report explores the challenges Governors and senior staff are facing in leading and managing prison education, in the light of the new contracting and commissioning arrangements.
In September this year, the Prisoner Learning Alliance submitted evidence to the Joint Committee on Human Rights’ inquiry into black people, racism and human rights.
Read our written evidence and recommendations in response to the Education Select Committee's Inquiry, Education: Are prisoners being left behind?
In May, the PLA submitted written evidence to the Education Select Committee on the impact of Covid-19 on education and children’s services. Read the full text, including key points and recommendations, here.
Our briefing looks at the use of digital technology in prisons from Spain to Australia, of in-cell tablets to virtual reality headsets. We hope that England and Wales can learn from some of these lessons from abroad.
An introduction to the winners of the PLA Awards 2018, recognising the teachers, officers, peer mentors and staff who have made an inspiring contribution to prison education.
As of 31 March 2018, the contracts for National Career Service (NCS) in every prison in England expired. The decision was taken by the Ministry of Justice not to extend the service, with uncertainty as to what would replace it.
This briefing outlines concerns about the anticipated gap in provision from April 2018, and the hugely valuable role that NCS careers advisors have played in supporting prisoners' education and rehabilitation.
Offender Learning and Skills Service (OLASS) contracts come to an end in April 2018, making way for a new era of prison governor-led education commissioning. Prisons are being given increasing flexibility and control over education budgets and the ability to commission a wide range of provision. The workbook is designed to support prison governors and managers with this process.
The PLA made this submission in response to a public consultation from Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) regarding updates to its Expectations for adult male prisons, the set of criteria used when conducting inspections.
Justice Secretary Liz Truss announced the Prison Safety and Reform White Paper on 3 November 2016, detailing “reforms which will transform how our prisons are run and give prisoners the skills they need to become law-abiding citizens when they are released”. The PLA issued this briefing in response to the White Paper.
Justice Secretary Michael Gove said in a speech to prison Governors: “We want individuals who leave prison to be changed characters [...] to have become assets contributing to society rather than liabilities who bring only costs.” But how does that ‘change’ process happen and what role can education play?
The Prisoner Learning Alliance (PLA) aims to stimulate debate around these issues. Using research with teachers and former prisoners, the report examines how we can measure the benefit of education in prison, and how we can improve its provision.
Prisoners Education Trust (PET) and the Prisoner Learning Alliance (PLA) response to The Department for Business Innovation and Skills proposals to expand the loans system by age and level of qualification.
Prisoners Education Trust and the PLA know that learning in prison works. This was recently evidenced in Justice Data Lab results, which showed a statistically significant (and sizeable) impact on reoffending levels from having received a PET grant for a distance learning course. This response therefore argue that the prison service needs to prioritise support for a wide range of learning opportunities in prisons and the response to the Committee’s questions are informed by that priority.
To set out a blueprint for improving prison education, policy and practice, PLA members formed three Task and Finish Groups and each group held an expert roundtable event to gather evidence from over 50 different practitioners, officers, teachers, managers, governors, organisations and learners to help inform the report.
The report was launched in Parliament on the 9th of December, 2013 where the Chief Inspector of Prisons, Nick Hardwick, gave a keynote speech outlining the importance of raising standards of education in prisons to achieve the best rehabilitation outcomes.
A document containing PLA's response to the Education Selects Committee inquiry on underachievement in education by white working class children, with a particular focus on the impact of having a parent in prison.
© Prisoner Learning Alliance 2024