EDUCATION & SCHOOL FACILITIES


measures have fallen short. Ofsted’s ‘Overall Effectiveness’ judgements in 2014/15 showed only two prisons were ‘Outstanding’. Nine prisons were ‘Good’, 27 prisons ‘Required Improvement’ and seven were ‘Inadequate’.


At present, prison-based education is based on a Virtual Campus (VC) – a secure web-based intranet system that allows inmates to access learning materials and a pre-approved list of websites relevant to their studies. However, it has been reported that in the majority of prisons, the VC is under-utilised, poorly located (sometimes in rooms that are locked for most of the day) and does not work effectively. Prisoners also have their use of the VC physically supervised by a teacher or prison officer, and there is a low level of awareness and lack of training among prison and education providers to support its use.


The problem is not necessarily the quality of the learning materials that are being made available to prisoners – it’s their ease of access to them, and how well they respond to materials when they eventually do. As Dame Coates explains in the review, there is a mentality in prisons that “if prisoners are given a paperclip and a piece of tin foil, they will immediately build a modem and use it for illegal purposes.”


Prisons must therefore focus on breaking down this heritage of inaccessible, overly-restrictive education, instead building a system in which prisoners are free to explore the topics that are of interest to them, in a way that best suits their individual learning style. And, this ideal can only be reached by upgrading the incumbent digital infrastructure across the prison estate, allowing inmates to study independently and engage in their own rehabilitation through education.


By offering these opportunities, the challenge of reoffending can be tackled head on, ultimately saving money and improving the outputs of the entire prison system.


THE OPPORTUNITY FOR


TECHNOLOGY In-cell learning and the secure use of tablets have been pinpointed as


www.tomorrowsfm.com


new ways to deliver a more effective standard of education, taking prisoners’ studies away from the traditional classroom environment. We need only look to the education sector to see how successful similar roll-outs are already proving.


“73% OF THE TEENAGERS


SAID THEY FELT


FRUSTRATED AT THE INABILITY OF THEIR TEACHERS TO USE


THE TECHNOLOGIES AVAILABLE TO THEM EFFECTIVELY.”


Hopwood Hall College near Manchester was struggling with an antiquated IT environment, with some PCs having been in use for over a decade, before deciding to invest in virtualised IT infrastructure. The new technology has enabled a shift away from traditional pedagogy in classrooms to a more flexible teaching structure in which students and teachers can access learning materials 24/7 from any location. This has encouraged independent learning among the student body, prompting the youngsters to take a more proactive and engaged approach to their studies. Applied to the prison system, technology can play a huge role in democratising education, making it accessible to everyone.


Alongside these benefits, Hopwood Hall’s investment in new IT infrastructure has also saved the College £500,000 over three years through more efficient utilisation of equipment, consolidation of servers and a cut in power and cooling energy. This is a clear demonstration of the role technology could play in creating a justice system that’s both modern, effective and cost-efficient.


As more and more schools up and down the country are realising,


technology also lends a level of personalisation to learning that traditional methods simply cannot compete with. For the prison system, this means that every inmate can have their own smart device-based development plan and teachers can track their progression over time. If an inmate is particularly advanced or behind in their studies, they can view study plans tailored to their level with a click of a button.


NAVIGATING THE


CHALLENGES Yet transforming education in the prison system through technology will not be a straightforward task, as we have already seen in the education sector.


Last year, 1,000 A-Level students were questioned about their attitudes towards technology at school. The results were insightful, with 73% of the teenagers saying they felt frustrated at the inability of their teachers to use the technologies available to them effectively.


Herein lies the crux of a problem that we are all too familiar with at Ricoh. When we undertake hundreds of digital transformation projects with organisations from diverse sectors all around the world, the most important piece of advice we impart is that digital training must not be overlooked. Yes, investment in technology is a step in the right direction, but return on investment can only come when we learn how to use it proficiently.


Think about how big business works: IT departments, led by the CIO, are champions for digital change, assisting employees in training, helping them to use the devices they’ve been given with ease, and updating the organisation when systems inevitably change. The prison system must take this same approach from the outset, with resident IT professionals at every prison clearly communicating how technology-based education can enrich prisoners’ lives, and empower teachers and support staff to deliver a better learning experience.


www.ricoh.co.uk TOMORROW’S FM | 35


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