Education select committee inquiry: are prisoners being left behind?

In December 2020, UCU carried out a prison education member consultation which has informed our formal response to the parliamentary select committee inquiry by documenting prison educator experiences around the themes raised by the inquiry. 

You can read the full report here: UCU response - select committee inquiry: Are prisoners being left behind?, Jan 21 [1mb]

Key recommendations arising from our member consultation and which is set out as part of our response are as follows:

• the commissioning model approach to prison education, and in particular this current iteration, the PEF, is failing both learners and staff. If prison education is indeed going to be reformed (as it should be) then we need to seriously consider an approach to prison education that places equal access to education at its heart (and this includes making learning spaces safe and fit for purpose).
• we believe that a key-way to address the previous pattern of disjointed and confused decision-making that has shaped the prison education sector in the past would be best achieved by the following: 
  1. nationalisation of a prison education service9 that provides educators with a 'national contract' that cannot be used by providers to make a profit or outbid competitors. This is essential if we are to train and retain qualified and experienced staff, especially in vocational areas
  2. prison education returned to the auspices of Department for Education with delivery of education within prisons being coordinated centrally. Local FE colleges becoming more involved in delivery of prison education, which is especially important for through the gate services
  3. UCU would like to see a comprehensive review of the recommendations from the Coates review as we do not believe that many of those recommendations have been implemented or carried through. There have been proposals to introduce a Prison Education Service which were cited in passing in the Justice White Paper: A Smarter Approach to Sentencing and there is a risk that the extensive work carried out as part of the Coates review will be lost. UCU would like to see a comprehensive review of the current operation of Prison Education Framework and the prison education curriculum which should inform future strategy
  4. the voice of professional educators in prison education has been all but drowned out by the demands of delivering a contract where the curriculum has become almost irrelevant. If there is to be the development of a truly fit for purpose, innovative prison education curriculum that sees the education provision being designed and delivered around educational needs and aspirations as opposed to narrow-target based contractual restrictions, then the voices of those who teach and those who learn behind the walls, need to be heard.

UPDATE: Following a hearing on 21 September 2021, UCU was concerned that some of the answers given by the prison education providers were mistaken or incomplete answers which may have given a misleading impression.

We therefore took the opportunity to correct the facts in a supplementary response [605kb].