Defining a curriculum for offenders : a case study of the development and implementation of a curriculum intervention incorporating e-learning in a prison establishment.

The context for this study is set within a brief historical account of the development of
prison education up to and including present day policies. The current policy
background encompasses the Offender Learning Journey, Offender Learning and Skills
Service and the government's Green Papers Reducing Re-Offending through Skills and
Employment (2005) and Next Steps (2006). Furthermore, the literature review considers
education and employment discourse in relation to social exclusion and participation in
learning.
The research design is predominately qualitative within a single case study framework,
utilising a mixed methods approach. It investigates perceptions of staff and offenders to
the development and implementation of a curriculum intervention involving an integrated
full-time programme of production, training and e-Iearning delivered in a prison establishment. The rising prison population resulted in an expansion programme which
saw a new residential unit, workshop and learning and skills activity centre built to
accommodate an extra 180 adult male offenders in the case study establishment. This
provided the opportunity, as an insider researcher, to explore specifically the
development and implementation of a curriculum intervention integrating technology into
one of the new workshop facilities.
The three partners namely, the Prison Service, OLASS and Learndirect college providers
collaborated together on the integrated programme. Hence, research has been
conducted at a practical level describing obstacles and outcomes of a local initiative
adopting a partnership approach to the said curriculum intervention and the responses of
a purposive sample of 5 staff and 6 offenders to it.
Data was analysed using a grounded theory approach and research conclusions suggest
that barriers/obstacles are not unique to the case study establishment particularly when
integrating technology into the curriculum. Furthermore, some negative staff attitudes
emerged but this did not undermine the project. The study indicates effective tripartite
working which was instrumental to the success of the intervention which motivated and
engaged offenders to succeed.