Rationale

The original aim of the project was to design and implement a ‘teach-meet’ approach to promoting outstanding practice through the creation of three teach-meet events, focussing on English, maths and ICT. The original idea was that each of the events would see a group of practitioners coming together to share ideas from their teaching practice and they would then use their project time to further develop, trial and evaluate these ideas, with support from their peers at later events.

As the project developed, the idea evolved. The events became steps on a journey for the prison-based practitioners, with practice developed and progress and findings shared, both within individual prisons and across the regional teams. At the first event, each prison team identified a project focus, with practitioners given the freedom to explore and implement solutions to areas of challenge. Alongside this, staff were supported by relevant professional development activities, offered both internally and through the OTLA programme, as well as learning from the skills and experience of their colleagues.

Project Activities and Outputs

Approach and Methdology

In order to provide guidance to the seven prison teams and facilitate project activities, a project leader was appointed, a deputy education manager from one of the prisons, with experience in undertaking practitioner-led research and managing project teams. Each of the OLASS managers in the seven prisons involved then chose two practitioners, through discussion with the project leader. These individuals were chosen for their ability to lead their project and effectively involve other staff and prisoners. They also needed to be able to work well with others across all the establishments, so that they could support one another’s project and professional development.

During the first regional project meeting and through meetings with the project leader in their prisons, practitioners were supported to reflect on their practice and to explore common issues, challenges and development opportunities. The project members were tasked to consider the relationships they could develop within their establishment and with their project partners in other prisons. This theme of relationships deepened as the projects progressed and became, in the words of the practitioners, their ‘Golden Thread’.

Professional Learning

Evidence of changes in teaching, learning and assessment practices.

Practitioners, supported by their project leader and the OTLA (North East and Cumbria) team, developed ideas of where they would like to improve practice and how, as a partnership, they could work together to create solutions and evaluate the impact on teaching, learning and assessment.

They focussed on a wide range of areas, illustrated by the project titles below:
• The Nest Box Project – embedding English and maths in prison industry through social enterprise (HMP Kirklevington Grange)
• Developing outstanding starters (HMP Frankland)
• Embedding English and maths in a family learning programme (HMP Durham)
• Developing family learning in the female estate (HMP Low Newton)
• Introducing learners to the benefits of embedding English and maths in vocational training (VT) provision (HMP Northumberland)
• Developing outstanding teaching, learning and assessment in Deerbolt’s construction academy (HMP Deerbolt)
• Developing classroom teaching in English and maths through VT activities (HMP Holme House)

The project participants included English and maths teachers, learning support specialists, managers and vocational trainers, as well as representatives from Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) and prisoners, who took part in project learning activities. Evidence of the project teams’ professional learning and changes in their practice can be found in their reports of individual and collaborative research; in revised lesson planning and vocational project plans; re-designed resources together with evidence of learners’ planning, work and learners’ achievement outcomes; and presentations for the regional project events.

Key changes included:
• a new ‘template’ for project-based learning, incorporating maths and English into social enterprise projects;
• identification of changes required for prison inductions, so that prisoners can see the value of developing maths and English in vocational training;
• stronger relationships with prison colleagues, e.g. to plan family learning activities.
• better understanding of how to include prisoners in designing learning.

Evidence of improved collaboration and changes in organisational practices

As well as collaboration within establishments and across the NE prisons, the ‘Nest box project’ was disseminated and further developed at HMP Haverigg in Cumbria. This team is predominantly comprised of prison service industries staff and learning support practitioners, working alongside peer mentors (prisoners) and teachers. This transfer of responsibility for leading the development of ‘task based’ learning approaches in prison workshops, from teachers to industries teams, is critical for prison projects to sustain and reach prisoners, not all of whom are allocated to education.

A national guide to ‘Maths and English in Prison Work and Training’ was developed as a result of this innovative OTLA project carried out at HMP Kirklevington Grange and HMP Haverigg. This has, in turn, inspired other prisons to design their own projects and ‘job sheets’, specific to the departments and workshops within their prisons.

Another important national outcome of the NE and Cumbria prison OTLA projects resulted from the work at HMP Northumberland. The team here had started their project focussing on embedding English and maths in painting and decorating workshops but soon recognised that prisoners’ perceptions of the benefits of learning this way were shaped by the induction practices that take place at the start of their sentence/ when they are moved to a new prison.

The HMP Northumberland team highlighted some important elements of prison induction practices that could be improved and this work is now being developed by Novus as part of a national induction working group, to design approaches that can be shared across the prison estate. The work was also recognised in a report in assessment and tracking, commissioned through the Education and Training Foundation by HMPPS and is contributing to a wider understanding of what can be done to improve prisoners’ experiences of maths and English assessments at the start of their prison learning journeys.

Making a difference in the prison classroom
At HMP Holme House, learning from the workshops transferred into classroom practice, with vocational trainers supporting maths and English teachers to develop ‘hands on’ approaches to engage their learners. For example, kitchen units used in a joinery workshop were carried across into a maths classroom to give learners practice in measuring, transferring 3D shapes to 2D drawings and in developing their understanding of scale. The project is now focussing on how to make learning at Entry Level equally ‘hands on’, in a move to bring learning to life across the educational levels on offer.