Grundtvig Action of the European Union

Socrates Programme

Antonio Viedma Rojas (UNED, Spain)

PCF5, London

• The Project EURODESIP: – to explore and describe the state of higher education within

prisons of some European memberstates.– carried out by Universities and Penitentiary Insititutions in

Countries or Regions (Catalonia, France, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Romania and Spain).

• The Grundtvig Action Aims:– to improve the quality of higher adult education programmes – to boost the European dimension– to contribute to increasing opportunity for people having

difficulty in gaining access to the labour market

Total Survey Analysis

• The survey was conducted from March to May 2007

• 1438 questionnaire responses from students

• 90% male

• 4-25% studying higher education

• Average age overall was 32.85

• Average age of HE student was 36.9

• Level 1. Systematic implementation: the choice of higher education in prison is widespread among the inmates with sufficient qualifications

• Level 2. Random implementation: higher education is implemented, but is not developed around a structure that guarantees its availability to all the inmates

• Level 3. Theoretical but not practical implementation: higher education programmes have not been implemented, although the students may formally apply for them.

• Level 4. Implementation not contemplated: Higher education does not exist and there are no students.

Higher Education in

European Prisons

Education Programs in Prisons

Three educational models:

a) distance learning;

b) direct teaching in prison classrooms; and

c) attending lectures at college or university on special leave

MODELS OF EDUCATIONAL COMMUNICATION IN PRISON

Basic/Secondary

education

Class attending education

Higher Education

Distance Learning

basic literacy and basic educational

social inclusion

Class attending education

higher education

gaining knowledge

personal growth and rehabilitation

best jobs?

• Efficiency on the use of the resources

• Flexible time and space• No need to make a classroom available

• Formal agreements with universities covering many prisons

Financial and Organisational Factors

But….

Could we mix these models?

Could we consider distance learning for basic education?

Could we consider classroom education for HE?

Education in Prison:

Two perspectives

Passive - Education is complementary to the sentence and is never its objective.

(Redemption above re-education or training)

Active - Educational programmes are a main objective for inmate education and rehabilitation inside and outside prison.

(Education above redemption)

ICT in Prison: the challenge

• Passive perspective: ICTs are:-

–an open door to the external world

–a way of going outdoors

–a way of breaking the isolation of the sentence

–a possibility to commit illegal actions

• Active perspective: ICTs are

–an opportunity for learning

–a way to widen the cultural base of the prison population

–a way to gain access to greatly valuable contents

–to gain support from the teacher both in class attending teaching and in distance learning.

Further Consideration ..

• knowledge and use of the ICTs is already linked to the labor market, the use of the educational

• ICTs in formal education will become the major source of educational contents,

• In the educational ICTs spaces all kinds of cultural and academic contents can be loaded up

And finally…• there already exists the possibility to create

secure educational spaces, it is necessary to start spreading this fact by creating multinational agreements.

• The greatest problem is to generate the confidence at Penitentiary Institutions and that will only be possible by showing that the systems are safe.

The technological change cannot be left outside prisons. To slow down/restrain its implementation means to widen the gap that leads to exclusion.

Thank-you

Any Questions?