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7. ACTIVITIES
Outcome
Prisoners take part in activities that educate, develop skills and personal qualities and prepare them for life outside prison.
7.1 Learning, Skills and Employability provision is good. Prisoners have good access to a wide range of learning opportunities, and receive high quality teaching and support. Good training accommodation and the new library facility enhance the learning experience. However, a lack of formal arrangements for SPS, College and CLAN staff to work together in the planning, coordination and review of LSE provision results in missed opportunities to provide a more cohesive and meaningful service.
7.2 Very few prisoners go to work: the workshops are empty.
Context
7.3 Learning, Skills and Employability ( LSE) is delivered by a range of organisations. SPS staff deliver a wide range of activity programmes and work-based training leading to Scottish Vocational Qualifications ( SVQs). The prison has a contract with Carnegie College to deliver 30,000 prisoner learning hours per year. This provision is delivered within the learning centre and mostly consists of Scottish Qualification Authority ( SQA) accredited units. 'City Literacy and Numeracy' ( CLAN) Edinburgh provides support for prisoners seeking to develop their literacy and numeracy skills. Good links with other agencies have led to events and projects including hosting a writer-in-residence. In November 2008 the prison opened a new library facility to support and enhance its LSE provision. The prison is continuing to strengthen its role within the community and is developing initiatives to engage with prisoners and their families through learning.
Staffing and Resources
7.4 There is a good range of appropriately qualified staff to deliver LSE activities and programmes. Prison, college and CLAN staff work well together and liaise informally on their activities. CLAN staff have delivered literacy awareness training to most SPS regime staff and a number of prison staff and peer support tutors have completed the PDA Introduction to Adult Literacy ( ITAL).
7.5 High quality accommodation in the learning centre provides well-equipped facilities and resources for learners.
7.6 Although at an early stage, there are plans in place to promote learning further across the prison. A programme of staff development is in place to raise awareness of residential staff on the range and content of learning centre programmes. However, there are no formal arrangements for SPS, college and CLAN staff to work together in the planning, coordination and review of LSE provision. As a result, there are missed opportunities for drawing collectively on the wide range of staff skills, expertise and resources to provide a more cohesive and meaningful provision.
Access to Learning, Skills and Employability
7.7 Prisoners have good access to learning opportunities and most have been involved in learning at some point in their time within the prison. A wide range of courses meets the needs of most learners. Seventeen VT programmes provide very good opportunities and choice for convicted and some remand prisoners. The learning centre provides good access to programmes at a range of levels from Access 2 to HNC. Approximately 750 prisoners a year access this type of provision. There are very good examples of non-accredited project-based activities including Museums, and Film and Theatre, which successfully engage prisoners in developing new interests and skills.
7.8 Careful coordination and timetabling of prisoner groups ensure that almost all prisoners are able to undertake courses at specific times of the week. This includes some prisoners on remand. This is an area of good practice. There are good arrangements for longer term prisoners to further develop their existing skills and progress to more advanced level programmes. Prisoners have access to PE in evenings and at weekends and have very good access to physical education equipment in the halls during association time.
7.9 CLAN and learning centre staff provide valuable one-to-one and group support for prisoners with literacy and numeracy needs. An ESOL programme is available for speakers of other languages. Learners with additional barriers to learning, such as dyslexia have good access to specialist support through CLAN staff.
7.10 However, on more than a few occasions, a range of factors including limited escort availability, staff absence and scheduling of other prison activities have interrupted or prevented participation in LSE activities.
Assessment of Need
7.11 Induction arrangements help familiarise prisoners with the learning opportunities available to them. Very effective referral arrangements between CLAN, prison and college staff help and encourage learners with literacy issues to access one-to-one and group support.
7.12 Profiling of prisoner skills at induction provides the prison with a useful gauge of competence in literacy and numeracy. However, there are no arrangements for collating this information to identify overall learning and additional support needs. As a result, managers are not able to draw on this information to plan programmes in order to match provision to need.
7.13 The very early profiling of literacy and numeracy skills of recently admitted prisoners is not always productive. It does not take sufficient account of individual needs, particularly of those who had a previous negative experience of learning or were dealing with other issues. The production of Individual Learning Plans does not involve learners sufficiently in the processes of planning and reflecting on their own learning.
Delivery of Learning
7.14 In all LSE functions, the strong commitment and motivation of staff ensures all learners receive high quality teaching and support for learning. They prepare well for their activities and programmes, are approachable and helpful and have established trusting and productive relationships with their learners. As a result prisoners felt confident about raising issues about their learning and were encouraged to reach their individual goals.
7.15 In learning centre classes, staff take good account of individual needs and interests and take time to incorporate them into activities. They adapt teaching and learning approaches to meet the needs of individual prisoners. These approaches include one-to one sessions, paired learning, multi-level teaching and small group demonstrations in vocational workshops. There are good examples of prisoners undertaking vocational training programmes being able to apply and develop their skills within a realistic work situation. However, in a few vocational training areas, the pace of learning is too slow for some prisoners.
7.16 Effective team working between CLAN and SPS staff enables learners in the Painting and Decorating VT to develop literacy and numeracy skills within a vocational context. This approach is particularly successful in engaging prisoners who would otherwise have been reluctant to seek one-to-one support.
7.17 In physical education, enthusiastic instructors deliver engaging and motivating physical education activities, and a well-structured twelve week programme provides good opportunity for participants to gain formal qualifications and progress to further learning on release.
Prisoners' Learning Experiences
7.18 Prisoners enjoy their learning experiences. They value the relationship they have with LSE staff and look forward to their activities. Most of the prisoners on learning centre programmes had entered prison with no or very few qualifications and many considered they had made good progress in gaining new skills and achieving qualifications.
7.19 Prisoners benefit from access to very high quality teaching and training accommodation. Small class sizes in the learning centre help them gain support when they need it and participate more fully in activities. They felt that this had increased their confidence in learning and improved their self-esteem. However, a number of prisoners had experienced sudden cancellation of classes and programmes and had found this disappointing and frustrating.
Achievement
7.20 Many prisoners were attaining qualifications and gaining wider skills. For many, this was their first experience of achieving a recognised qualification.
7.21 In the learning centre, approximately 320 SQA units are awarded to prison learners each year, with around 200 learners achieving one or more units. Many prisoners achieve qualifications at SCQF levels 3-5. Most learners undertaking literacy support progress to further programmes. A well-structured programme of physical education offers prisoners the opportunity to develop competences in sports leading, first aid, football coaching and gym instructing. Certification of achievement is offered in a number of these areas.
7.22 A large number of the vocational training workshops provide programmes of activity leading to recognised national qualifications. These include awards in construction trades, industrial cleaning, catering, horticulture and fork lift vehicle driving. The vocational training service was on track to meet its annual targets for qualifications gained. However, there are no arrangements for learners to gain recognition for achievement of core skills developed through project and work-based activities.
7.23 The prison has hosted an event to celebrate the success of learners achieving formal qualifications. However there is opportunity for expanding this to incorporate recognition of other and wider achievements.
Ethos and Values
7.24 The prison continues to develop a learning culture across its services and provision and was rolling out a programme of staff development to assist this. LSE staff have established very positive and supportive relationships with prisoners and as a result learners participate productively in their LSE activities and interact well with staff and each other.
7.25 Individual LSE staff take very good account of prisoner views and interests, particularly when planning learning activities. They try to meet the needs of all prisoners, and good referral arrangements to CLAN staff enables learners with additional learning needs to access support. However, the lack of formal arrangements for prison, college and CLAN staff to work together as a team on the planning and delivery of provision reduces the effectiveness of the LSE provision as a whole.
Quality Assurance
7.26 In a number of areas of LSE provision, prisoner groups contribute to the evaluation of provision and suggest enhancements to programmes or services. These areas include the library and physical education. Management staff in the vocational training workshops regularly evaluate the quality and relevance of vocational training programmes and introduce new and amended programmes to improve the learning experience of prisoners. Learning centre staff apply college quality assurance processes to review and evaluate provision. They internally verify programme units and participate in course teams to identify areas for improvement.
Library
7.27 A very welcoming and attractive library provides good opportunities for learners to access laptops, CDs, DVDs and books on a wide range of topics and interests. Close working between staff and prisoner groups in the design and planning of the new library has resulted in well-pitched reading materials which appeal to a wide range of levels.
7.28 Prisoners find the informality of the library welcoming and conducive to browsing and accessing different types of resources and materials. They appreciate being involved in suggesting new services in the library and contributing to developments.
Other Out of Cell Activities
7.29 The majority of work activity for prisoners in Edinburgh is via training work areas and services such as laundry, catering and cleaning. Workshops are very well equipped but often empty; prisoners regularly do not go to work. This is due largely to staff absence and attendance patterns. It is recommended that prisoners should regularly go to work in the workshops.
7.30 There is a very well equipped gymnasium available at evenings and weekend. In most of the residential areas there is a small gym which is also available during periods of association. Recreation facilities, particularly for remand prisoners, are poor, and there are very few opportunities of out of cell activities for remand prisoners. Prisoners were seen wandering around aimlessly at association during the evening and at weekends. It is recommended that more is made available to prisoners at weekends.
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