Prison-university partnerships in lockdown
Three prison university partnerships come together to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on their role in prisons, and what the future may hold for their work.
Three prison university partnerships come together to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on their role in prisons, and what the future may hold for their work.
This toolkit is designed to support educators and prison staff in setting up and delivering a prison-university partnership.
In this toolkit you will find information and guidance on:
In a new Clinks Evidence Library review, PET CEO Jon Collins takes a look at the evidence on the impact of prison education.
New PET Chair Paul Kelly has experience in the private sector and as a trustee and chair, as well as experience of the justice system.
PET’s Head of Fundraising and External Affairs takes a look back at the impact you’ve helped us make for people in prison this year.
Prisoners’ Education Trust (PET) has won the Voluntary Contribution to Community Safety and Justice Award at the Inspire Justice Awards.
The Ministry of Justice will soon begin the bidding process for prison education provision. Here is what we know about the contracts so far.
The new Available but not Accessible report looks at the barriers to purposeful activities in prison for Romany Gypsies and Irish Travellers.
The new HM Inspectorate of Prisons inspection report reveals how staff shortages are affecting education in prison.
Five of PET’s former learners spoke about the impact of studying in prison at our supporters event in London. Here, we find out their stories.
After leaving prison, Erika joined our Alumni Advisory Group and started creating artwork to make an impact in the criminal justice sector.
Our Head of Policy, Francesca Cooney examines the findings of the recent report on prison education from the Education Select Committee.
Find out why Jon started working for PET, what we’re doing to ensure we reach everyone in prison, and what he hopes we can achieve by 2026.
Prisoners’ Education Trust is calling for investment in digital technology for learners in response to the Education Select Committee report.
2021 saw over 1,300 people start courses in prison with PET. Discover our most popular courses since we launched our 2021–2022 prospectus.
PET’s Head of Fundraising and Communications takes a look back at everything we have achieved in 2021 thanks to the help of our supporters.
Based on feedback from learners, prison and education staff, and the expert advice team here at PET, we’ve improved and refreshed our prospectus and now offer over 120 courses to people in prison.
After eight years as CEO, Rod Clark reflects on leaving Prisoners’ Education Trust and the positive future he foresees for the organisation.
PET’s Welsh Prisons Project has pioneered many of the changes we have made to improve our support for learners in recent times.
A collaboration between Learning Together, Coracle Inside and HMPPS is yielding exciting developments in the provision of digital learning.
A new connected short course delivered at HMP Hull is supported by chromebooks through Learning Together’s partnership with Coracle Inside.
PET funded over 1000 people to take courses in prison last year, helping them work towards their dream of a better life.
Despite the suspension of face-to-face education during lockdown, HMP Pentonville has found ways of keeping educational partnerships running and creating learning opportunities for people in prison.
New government research shows the positive impact of education for people supported by Prisoners’ Education Trust goes beyond finding work.
In this blog, Angus Jackson talks about his experience as a university student participating in Learning Together module ‘Writing Together’.
Matteo Cassini from Justice Defenders talks about breaking down barriers between prisoners and prison staff through legal education in Kenya and Uganda.
Rod Clark is stepping down as Chief Executive of Prisoners’ Education Trust after seven and a half years in the role.
Model: Learning Together
A collaborative learning partnership between Leeds Beckett University, which began in 2017. The course is taken by Leeds Beckett students as part of a criminology degree and is run by Drs Alexandria Bradley and Bill Davies. The module has been praised by HMIP Inspectors and OFSTED in their report in 2020. You can read the report here. You can also read the independent evaluation of this partnership here.
Charles Cockell, from Edinburgh University, discusses the successful Life Beyond project established through a partnership between Fife College and the Scottish Prison Service. Life Beyond challenges prisoners to think about science in a creative way.
In this blog post we hear from Sacha Darke, a senior lecturer at University of Westminster, who recently travelled to South America to visit existing and developing higher education prison initiatives.
In this post, Professor Tom Schuller, Chair of PLA, talks about the importance of developing partnerships between prisons and further education colleges and of continued learning through adulthood.
In 2019 we helped people in prison start just over 1,700 courses. Discover last year’s movers and shakers as we reveal the ten most popular choices.
Earlier this month, PET alumnus Dalton spoke at the PLA conference about the impact of studying science in prison. Find out how the innovative Think Like a Scientist programme helped him find his freedom.
Space, coding and the science of sleep were all part of the equation at the PUPiL network’s latest event, as we heard from experimental projects that push the boundaries of what is usually possible in prisons.
The new Justice ministers have just taken on huge and urgent responsibilities. If they find time for some background reading around prisons, what might that be, and what messages could they draw from it?
The University of Leicester’s Dr Marie Nugent has worked with researchers and HMP Leicester to run an English pilot of Cell Block Science – a ground-breaking public engagement programme that brings STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) academics into prisons.
30 veterans in prison have been offered a fresh start through learning thanks to generous support from ABF The Soldiers’ Charity.
This year the OU turns 50, and to celebrate we asked Ruth McFarlane to share just a snapshot of some of the brilliant opportunities that the OU offer across the secure estate.
Since 2010, The Taylor Family Foundation has supported PET with £85,000 of funding, giving nearly 200 young prisoners in the South of England the chance to transform their lives through education.
It has been very beneficial in me seeing myself as a true university student and not just a prison student.”
In January 2016 British Convict Criminology at University of Westminster started its first prison-university partnership at HMP Pentonville. The project, Making Links, involves level 6 BA Criminology students studying an Introduction to Prisons course with Pentonville learners studying at level 3 and above. It was cited as an example of good practice in the Ministry of Justice’s (2016) Coates Review on prison education. In October 2017 the University of Westminster stated a Convict Criminology reading group with social science degree students at HMP Grendon. In 2018 Drs Darke and Aresti in HMP Coldingley.
added another in HMP Coldingley.
Another partnership, between Westminster and HMYOI Feltham, brings together students from both institutions and from Royal Holloway University to study ‘Contemporary Social Issues’ in a Learning Together module.
Our new site is clearer, quicker and more accessible – a hub for supporters, prison staff, and alumni alike.
Model: Various, including academic reading groups
University postgraduate students meet monthly with prison-based students in peer-run sessions at HMPs Shotts, Greenock and Barlinnie to discuss academic texts in social sciences, humanities and physical sciences. The aim is to reproduce the kinds of reading groups typically available in universities as part of a liberal arts educational philosophy and which support: group based learning, discussion and debate skills, critical analytical skills, close reading, high level textual engagement and knowledge acquisition.
Read a rundown of 2018’s ten most popular courses and hear from some of our learners.
In April, we’ll see the biggest changes in prison education for many years. As with all major change, this brings risks and challenges, but it also brings real opportunity.
The PUPiL widening participation event in November 2018 highlighted the positive effects that university-prison partnerships can have, with speakers from Unlock and the University of Westminster.
Diana Scott supports students with English language and academic skills as a foundation for their further study. Here she discusses the important role English for Academic Purposes (EAP) support can play for prison learners.
Dr Alison Lamont works in the Department of Social Sciences at the University of Roehampton. She has worked in partnership with HMP Belmarsh on a Learning Together programme, ‘Understanding Justice.’
On 24 May, Justice Secretary David Gauke announced a new strategy for education and employment in, and out, of prison. Much of it wasn’t new, there were positive statements of intent, and some disappointments. But is the financial investment going to be there to make it a reality?
The Chair of the Prisoner Learning Alliance today wrote to the new Prisons Minister Rory Stewart OBE MP. He called for an explanation of why the contracts to provide careers advice for prisoners have been terminated without any apparent replacement service in place.
As the Prisoner Learning Alliance prepares to launch a new membership structure in 2018, we re-visit some of its key successes.
Richard Ward, a senior official from the Ministry of Justice outlines the upcoming changes to education in prisons, at the PLA Conference.
© Prisoners' Education Trust 2024