Schemes to improve the literacy and numeracy of prisoners, and often to teach them more besides, emerged at the turn of the nineteenth century, coinciding with the birth of the modern prison.This free course will tell you about the history of prison education in the British Isles. It will examine the motivations behind the provision of education, the types of learning that were offered and the experiences of prisoners, over the first 100 years of education in prisons. By juxtaposing the ambitions of reformers with the realities of the penal environment, this course will offer some reflections on the value of history to policymakers and practitioners involved in prison education and rehabilitation today.Transcript355355Enrolling on the course will give you the opportunity to earn an Open University digital badge. Badges are not accredited by The Open University but they’re a great way to demonstrate your interest in the subject and commitment to your career, and to provide evidence of continuing professional development.Once you are signed in, you can manage your digital badges online from My OpenLearn. In addition, you can download and print your OpenLearn statement of participation – which also displays your Open University badge.The Open University would really appreciate a few minutes of your time to tell us about yourself and your expectations for the course before you begin, in our start-of-course survey. Once you complete the course we would also value your feedback and suggestions for future improvement, in our end-of-course survey. Participation will be completely confidential and we will not pass on your details to others.In 2022, Rosalind Crone, lead author of this course, received an ‘Innovation in Teaching Prize’ from the Royal Historical Society. The production of this course was a team effort which included contributions from Open University staff, Prisoners’ Education Trust, and several former prisoners. We would like to thank the Royal Historical Society for their recognition of this work and for their support in promoting the importance of access to education in prisons.The development of this course was supported by a grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council and through collaboration with Prisoners’ Education Trust. It is strongly recommended for the professional development of anyone working in prisons or criminal justice, as well as for prisoners who want to try higher-level learning and to reflect on their educational experiences. This course is accredited by the CPD Standards Office. It can be used to provide evidence of continuing professional development and on successful completion of the course you will be awarded 24 CPD points. Evidence of your CPD achievement is provided on the free Statement of Participation awarded on completion.Anyone wishing to provide evidence of their enrolment on this course is able to do so by sharing their Activity Record on their OpenLearn Profile, which is available before completion of the course and earning of the Statement of Participation.
Overview
Syllabus
- Introduction and guidance
- Introduction and guidance
- What is a badged course?
- How to get a badge
- Acknowledgements
- Session1Session 1: The origins of prison education
- Introduction
- 1 Thinking about the past
- 2 1823: the birth of prison education
- 3 Prison in the 1700s
- 4 The rise of imprisonment
- 4.1 Irish and Scottish prisons
- 5 Penal reform after 1800
- 6 Social unrest
- 7 Christian Evangelicalism
- 8 Utilitarianism
- 9 The expansion of education
- 10 How do people know about the past?
- 11 This session’s quiz
- 12 Summary of Session 1
- References
- Further reading
- Acknowledgements
- Session2Session 2: The rise of the prison school
- Introduction
- 1 Tracking the spread of prison education
- 2 Inclusion and exclusion
- 3 Ways of educating
- 4 The rise of the prison schoolmaster
- 5 Schoolrooms
- 6 Time for instruction
- 7 Reflection
- 8 This session’s quiz
- 9 Summary of Session 2
- References
- Further reading
- Acknowledgements
- Session3Session 3: Inside the prison school
- Introduction
- 1 Searching for the causes of crime
- 2 What was taught in the prison school
- 3 The role of religion
- 4 Drilling and memorisation
- 5 Prisoners as scholars
- 6 This session’s quiz
- 7 Summary of Session 3
- References
- Further reading
- Acknowledgements
- Session4Session 4: Education outside the prison school
- Introduction
- 1 Books behind bars
- 2 Reading in seclusion
- 3 Expanding the prison library
- 4 Censorship
- 5 Borrowing books
- 6 This session’s quiz
- 7 Summary of Session 4
- References
- Further reading
- Acknowledgements
- Session5Session 5: Systems of measurement
- Introduction
- 1 Prison registers
- 2 Evidence-based policymaking
- 3 Expanding the Criminal Returns
- 4 Interpreting and using the data
- 5 Illiteracy – a criminal problem?
- 6 Measuring the effectiveness of the prison school
- 7 Evidence of rehabilitation
- 8 This session’s quiz
- 9 Summary of Session 5
- References
- Further reading
- Acknowledgements
- Session6Session 6: Education in a changing penal regime
- Introduction
- 1 Penal policy under challenge
- 2 The persistence of prison education
- 3 Reviewing the prison school curriculum
- 4 Incentives for learning
- 5 Facilities for self-instruction
- 6 Cellular instruction
- 7 This session’s quiz
- 8 Summary of Session 6
- References
- Further reading
- Acknowledgements
- Session7Session 7: Uniformity in prisons and prison education
- Introduction
- 1 The Revised Code in convict prisons
- 2 The nationalisation of local prisons
- 3 The Fenwick Committee
- 4 Evaluating the Fenwick scheme
- 5 Uniformity across the UK
- 6 Warders as teachers
- 7 This session’s quiz
- 8 Summary of Session 7
- References
- Further reading
- Acknowledgements
- Session8Session 8: A new era for prison education?
- Introduction
- 1 Behind the prison walls
- 2 Opposing voices
- 3 Pressure for reform: the 1895 Gladstone Committee
- 4 Reforming prison education
- 5 A new scheme for prison education?
- 6 The limits of reform
- 7 Learning from history
- 8 Reflection
- 9 This session’s quiz
- 10 Summary of Session 8
- Where next?
- Tell us what you think
- References
- Further reading
- Acknowledgements
