Reports and Evaluations - Increasing Learning, Reducing Re-offending, Social Exclusion & Skillessness

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. PDF

“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 PDF

In 2005 the WAVE Trust published its comprehensive research on the causes of violence in society. As highlighted by Sir Christopher Ball, Chairman of the WAVE Trust, it is a deeply depressing and sad portrayal of the root causes for much of the increase in violence and anti-social behaviour that we see today. He describes it as a social evil, in 2005 costing the state some £20 billion a year. The report clearly shows the links between early childhood abuse and violence and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It also shows that by meaningful investment in programmes and parental training that address the causes, the financial savings and social benefits to society and the state are potentially enormous.

Yet, despite the evidence, we have failed to make such investment and continue to waste vast sums of money and lives.

For those who are interested in reducing violence, crime and ever increasing social deprivation, I recommend it as compulsary reading. To read the report - click here

Reducing Re-Offending Through Skills and Employment PDF

"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 'employability 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."

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. PDF

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. PDF

Developing the Offenders' Learning and Skills Service: The Prospectus

Proposals to develop and reform offender learning. PDF

"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 employability.

• 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 employability.
• 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 & 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. PDF

'Restorative Justice: The evidence' (The Smith Institute 2007) PDF . 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 reoffending and as to the role that RJ might play in the future of Britain's youth and criminal justice systems.

Parnterships in Crime - Implementing ChangePDF

Trevor Philpott describes his Winston Churchill Travel Fellowship, investigating issues relating to youth crime in Eastern Europe and Chile.

6th January 2007