Educating Rita
Lucy Charman wonders why people who abuse prison education don’t pause for a moment to reflect on how much they might actually gain by listening to what’s on offer.
Sharon and her chums have arrived at HMP Lavender Fields reception all attitude and nits. On the induction wing, after being told a load of nonsense about what should happen, and when, they do the induction test to check literacy and numeracy skills. Without realising the foolishness of not completing these tests properly, they muck about and submit the papers half done. When the results of the tests are displayed, the education department quakes at the thought of yet another new influx of definitely don't wannabees!Deep joy .. they arrive in education! They don't want to be there and make no bones about it; well, should have done the induction papers properly then shouldn't you! They eventually get a timetable and Sharon, who has professed not to be able to read and write, is placed in ‘literacy for beginners’, whereupon something remarkable happens - she is miraculously ‘cured’ and a new timetable has to be done.
Sharon has now been put in Maths and English. Maybe she hadn't messed up her papers so much as we thought? She really doesn't know how much change she should have got from a tenner after she bought the six-pack of Stella, and she doesn't know how to spell ‘appeal’. Having been persuaded, courtesy of the IEP, that she really does need educating, Sharon slopes off to Maths. Half an hour into the lesson she decides that she wants to talk to her mate Tracey who is in English, so abandoning the work she hasn't even started, she wanders out of the classroom without a by your leave or permission. She goes into English and, still standing in the doorway, has a chat with Tracey who is sitting at the back of the class. The English teacher attempts to control the situation by sending Sharon back to Maths and is told in no uncertain terms that she wants to speak to Tracey .. NOW! By the end of the session, Sharon has learnt that very little discipline exists and, as yet, no-one has prevented her from wandering from class to class or running backwards and forwards down the corridor outside the classrooms. It would appear that it is far easier to let her create her brand of havoc anywhere as long as it is ‘not in my classroom.’
For every Sharon and Tracey there is a Rita who really does want to learn, and spends the majority of her education sessions having to witness the shenanigans of those that are only in education because they have been sent there, knowing that a refusal not only offends but gets them a nicking and no pay! This is a very unfair situation which should be addressed quickly - the Rita’s of the prison system should not be penalised if they want to take advantage of education and use their time inside constructively. Of course some of the Sharon and Tracey brigade are in education because it is part of their sentence plan, but does it make them behave any better? Does it heck! So what's the answer?
I am one of the last people to deny a fellow human being the opportunity to learn. However, for those that really do not want to be in education, despite their desperate need for it, let them stay away. They will have won their personal fight against authority, and feel they have put one over on the powers that be, but at the end of the day their absence is going to do teachers and those students who do want to learn a massive favour – although perhaps better not to let them know that; we'd hate them to think we had to be grateful to them!
There are prisons that provide good vocational training - work that can be done on the outside. I can't believe that there is an overwhelming need for people to make hairnets, the prison may make a bob or two out of it but the prisoners gain no qualifications or job satisfaction.
There are a few ways round this that I can see: firstly, timetable the Sharon element into the classes that they want to do and if they don't pull their weight and mess about then get shot of them, this will be their loss. Secondly, put in place better work opportunities - places with appropriate and relevant training for life outside. And last but not least, don't pay the time-wasters! You play up, you get out. It's truly amazing what the thought of no tobacco can do to someone's bolshiness!
At the end of the day, if you don't go to education when you badly need it that’s your loss, but when you behave like retarded two-year-olds it is other prisoners who lose; prisoners who want to use their time positively and improve themselves. So if you are reading this, and know full well you are a ‘Sharon’ or a ‘Tracey’, please take a few minutes to think about how you behave in education; you may be surprised to find that you could benefit from listening to what's on offer. Wouldn't it be nice if you could leave prison with a piece of paper saying you had achieved something .. rather than a piece outlining your adjudications?
Beyond Reasonable Doubt
Governor Adjudications
In the Know
Help or Hindrance?
Telephone Evidence - Tactics and Strategy
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I have a dream
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Being prepared for the scrap heap?
Fragile Progress
Unfit for Human Habitation
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Issue : July 2010
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