Managing Challenging Behaviour - Dynamic Training
Promoting Positive Learning Motivation & Change
Continuous Professional Development
Introduction
This page provides access to various reports and evaluations related to Life Change UK's training in dealing with challenging behaviour, the reduction of re-offending and other issues associated with the education of offenders and other marginalsed groups.
SWitch (CETT) Mentor Training on Managing Challenging Behaviour - An Evaluation by DCTPN
During the summer of this year Life Change was contracted by SWitch (CETT) to conduct 4 courses of training on mentoring in the Management of Challenging Behaviour. The training was aimed at expereicned staff with responsibilities for mentoring and supporting less experienced colleagues.
An evaluation of the training was undertaken by Craig Marshall, Managing Director of the Devon and Conwall Training Provider Network. This report can be read here.
Armed Forces and the Criminal Justice System
A survey conducted by Napo during the summer of 2009 found that 12,000 former armed service personnel were under the supervision of the Probation Service in England and Wales on either community sentences or on parole.
Research published by Napo last year found that 8,500 former veterans were in custody at any one time in the UK, following conviction of a criminal offence.
There are therefore twice as many veterans in the criminal justice system than are currently serving in military operations in Afghanistan. Indeed the total number of men and women in active service in all locations on 31-05-09 was 13,400 (not including Iraq).
The Role of the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) in NOMS
This report highlights the need for increasing partnerships between NOMS and the VCS. In order to ensure a common approach throughout the offender's learning journey it is essential that staffs work to a common understanding of offender needs.
Brain Cells: Listening to prisoner learners
A New Report
41% of prisoners who fail to complete educational courses say it is due to being moved to another prison. That's just one of the findings in Brain Cells. This new report, published on 5th March 2009, is the result of a survey of prisoners about their experiences of learning in prison. Brain Cells is a collaboration between Prisoners Education Trust, Inside Time, the newspaper for prisoners, and consultants, RBE.
QIA Research Report by Dr Caroline Hudson
The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) Offender Learning and Skills Service (OLASS) began in January 2004 following the creation of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) to commission services for offenders on a regional basis. NOMS aims to bring an integrated approach to the custodial and non-custodial aspects of a sentence. The Offender Learning and Skills web site describes how OLASS is underpinned by an early, intense focus on assessment of an offender's learning needs, and development of an individual learning plan that sets out how those needs will be met. It goes on to describe how there is an explicit intention to ‘join up' delivery arrangements so that learning started in one setting can continue in another as the offender moves through the criminal justice system and out into mainstream learning in the community.
Research by Dr Caroline Hudson, on behalf of QIA, highlights that in order to achieve such provision there is a need to contextualise the revised teaching qualifications to meet the needs of staff working with offender assessment, learning and training. The revised teaching qualifications offer a range of opportunities for the development of staff involved in such work. The framework 'Developing qualifications for teachers, tutors and trainers in the lifelong learning sector in England' PDF describes the introduction of qualifications that recognise the learners needs and therefore the associated delivery. The Life Change UK training is specifically aimed at assisting with this process and is quoted by Dr Hudson in her report.
HM Government Green Paper 2005 - Reducing Re-Offending Through Skills and Employment
"We (the Government) want to build a modern correctional system, focused on rehabilitation, working in partnership with employers and those able to provide high-quality training. Key proposals include a stronger focus on jobs, with more relevant skills training, led by employer needs; a new 'employ-ability contract' for offenders, with incentives for participation; and a'campus' model for learning to ensure continuity of education from prisons into the community."
"Those who commit the most serious crimes, and pose the greatest risk to the public, must expect their punishment to be severe. But we cannot properly protect the public by focusing on punishment alone; we must also address the underlying causes of crime. We can best protect society by making a positive and lasting difference to individual offenders. To that end, the Government aims to help offenders become more productive members of society."
Restorative Justice (RJ)
The Smith Institute is an independent think tank that has been set up to look at issues which flow from the changing relationship between social values and economic imperatives. In 2004-05 the Smith Institute ran a highly successful series of seminars looking at case studies of the use of restorative justice techniques among criminals and their victims, in schools and within communities and neighbourhoods. Building on the impressive accounts of how powerful restorative justice techniques could be, as a way both of changing behaviour and of mitigating harm, this independent report was commissioned by the Smith Institute in association with the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation in order to examine the evidence on restorative justice (RJ) from Britain and around the world. The aim of the project was to bring together the results of RJ trials in order to set out a definitive statement of what constitutes good-quality RJ, as well as to draw conclusions both as to its effectiveness with particular reference to re offending and as to the role that RJ might play in the future of Britain's youth and criminal justice systems.
Bromley Briefings - Prison Factfile
The Prison Reform Trust's latest factfile reveals the prison system in England and Wales is holding large numbers unnecessarily, for longer and longer at huge cost and for little or no public benefit.
The Centre for Social Justice Prison Reform Report - 'Locked up Potential'
The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) today (23 Mar 09) launched its report for Prison Reform. Recognising that the current provision is failing badly, the report widens the debate with proposals for radical change within the Justice System, including the provision of local Community Prison and Rehabilitation Trusts (CPRTs). Modelled on NHS Trusts, the new CPRTs will be given responsibility for the provision of local prisons, the delivery of joined up programmes of rehabilitation and the overall reduction of re-offending within their areas.
For anyone interested in seeing real change and improvements in the reduction of re-offending and the saving of millions of pounds and many thousands of wasted lives, the full report is highly recommended.
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Devon & Cornwall Training Provider (DCTPN) Evaluation
In the Autumn of 2007 Life Change UK ran a 5 day course addressing the managment of challenging behaviour for staff from various private and voluntary sector training providers in Devon and Cornwall. The results more than realised everyone's expectations. One participant said - “this was more valuable than any other training I had previously done. I got so much out of it. I have changed the way I work and it has helped me to see the training needs of others in my team”.
The full report can be read here>
Voices of Desistance - C-FAR
“Something different was happening at C-FAR”. An Ethnographic study by UCE Birmingham describing the outcomes of the C-FAR Training Programme -
Professors David Wilson & Julian Killingley, 15th November 2005
LSC Draft Paper - Developing the Offenders' Learning and Skills Service - September 2007
"Our (Government) task within the OLASS is to bring together the latest thinking and initiatives concerning offenders, both those in custody and serving sentences in the community, and to combine these with the LSC's drive to link learning and skills as closely as possible to sustained employment and continuing employ-ability.
Our proposals for developing the Offenders'Learning and Skills Service are set out within four broad objectives, as follows:
developing and reforming the way in which learning provision for offenders in custody is planned, organised, delivered and funded. We will work with NOMS and other commissioners to move away from historical arrangements by prioritising the availability and range based on personalised learner and employer need. The principal focus will be on skills for employment and employ-ability.
widening the scope, range and availability of learning provision for offenders in the community.
for all offenders, ensuring that the learning offer is explicitly linked and aligned to other services and interventions, in particular by developing strong joint commissioning arrangements with NOMS commissioners.
by supporting improvements in the quality of provision, ensuring that all offenders are able to benefit from existing provision and developments within the wider post-16 sector.
Rethinking Crime and Punishment
Esmee Fairbairn Foundation
Rethinking Crime & Punishment (RCP) was a four-year £3 million initiative of Esmée Fairbairn Foundation. It funded 57 projects, which have produced a wide range of learning about prison and alternatives and recommended action for policy makers, practitioners and the public.
English at C-FAR
Reflections by two professional teachers, formerly employed by C-FAR, on the challenges of delivering English Language and Literature to ex-offenders. The issues described closely relate to the QIA research undertaken by Dr Caroline Hudson.
Winston Churchill Travel Fellowship
(various PDF files)
Trevor Philpott describes his Winston Churchill Travel Fellowship, investigating issues relating to youth crime in Eastern Europe and Chile.
Click the links below to download .PDF files.
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