1

The European Union and Prison Education – Cooperation, Innovation, Policy support

Alan Smith

Formerly Grundtvig Coordinator and

Acting Head of Adult Learning Unit, European Commission

Erasmus+ Partner finding & Prison Education Thematic Seminar:

Past, present and future of Prison Education Irish Prison Education Service + European Prison Education Association + Léargas (Irish National Agency for Erasmus+)

Dublin, 12-16 June 2019

2

Overview

• Why is prison education a relevant policy issue for the EU?

• How does the EU support prison education?

• European Cooperation in Prison Education:

• The Past: the rich history of EU-supported activities

• The Present: Prison Education in Erasmus+

• The Future: What are the future prospects for Prison Education cooperation in the EU context?

3

Prison education – at the intersection of EU Fundamental Rights, Education, Justice & Social Policy

Social Policy

(inclusion)

(Adult) Education

Policy

Justice Policy (detention)

PRISON EDUCATION

Fundamental Rights

4

EU Instruments relevant for prison education

• Policy processes

• Funding instruments:

Specific programmes

Structural funds (notably European Social Fund)

5

Policy processes

• Fundamental rights (Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU) “Human dignity is inviolable and must be protected and respected” (Art.1)

No-one may be extradited to a country where sentenced persons suffer degrading treatment or punishment (Art.19.2)

The “severity of penalties must not be disproportionate to the offence” (Art.49.3)

“Everyone has the right to education and to have access to vocational and continuing training” (Art.14.3)

• Education and training policy: “ET2020” process (Renewed) European Agenda for Adult Learning

EU-level Working Group on adult learning

New Skills Agenda for Europe

• Social policy European Cohesion Policy 2014-2020

European Pillar of Social Rights

• Justice policy Detention conditions (main context: European Arrest Warrant / Prisoner exchange)

Suggestion: a structured EU policy process designed to improve detention standards and rehabilitation (including benchmarks relating to prison education)

6

EU education policy reference to prison ed.

• Member States to focus on « Addressing the learning needs of people […] in specific situations of exclusion from learning, such as those in […] prisons, and providing them with adequate guidance support. »

• European Agenda for Adult Learning, part of Priority 3 for 2012-4, relating to equity, social cohesion, active citizenship

• However, prison aspects are generally just a dimension of broader target categories such as ‘social inclusion’, measures for low-skilled persons, ‘second chance’, anti-radicalization etc.

7

EU Social Policy

• Part of European Cohesion Policy 2014-2020 • Thematic objective "Investing in education, training and vocational

training for skills and lifelong learning": • Enhancing equal access to lifelong learning for all age groups in formal, non-

formal and informal settings

• Upgrading the knowledge, skills and competences of the workforce

• Promoting flexible learning pathways including through career guidance and validation of acquired competences

• European Pillar of Social Rights (17.11.2017) Principle 1 (Education, training and life-long learning): “Everyone has the right to quality and inclusive education, training and life-long learning in order to maintain and acquire skills that enable them to participate fully in society and manage successfully transitions in the labour market.”

8

EU Justice Policy

• European Arrest Warrant • Exchange of prisoners

• Good detention standards required across EU

• Prison education an important dimension of detention conditions

Funding for prison education within “Justice” programme nonetheless rare

9

EU Funding mechanisms

• Specific programmes

• Education and training: Erasmus+ and predecessor programmes

• Grants for mobility, cooperation projects, policy-related projects

• Adult education, but also VET and Youth highly relevant

• Electronic Platform for Adult Learning in Europe (EPALE)

• Justice programme and predecessors • Calls for proposals may relate to detention aspects (relatively rare)

• Support for the European Organisation of Prison and Correctional Services (Europris)

• Other programmes (Horizon 2020, Creative Europe for prison arts etc.)

• European Social Fund (ESF)

• Main support via national managing authorities, operational programmes, devolution to regional / local level, relatively limited transnational cooperation opportunities

• Earlier funding periods: Transnational cooperation via “Community initiatives” (EQUAL)

ESF-EQUAL and prison education

• 121 Development Partnerships exclusively or predominantly on (ex-) offenders, € >170 million (calls for proposals launched in 2001 + 2004)

• European Learning Network ExOCoP (Ex-Offenders Community of Practice) as follow-up, 2009-2012 Berlin Declaration 2012

• Many innovative projects still visible in mainstream today (e.g. the e-learning platform e-LiS in German and Austrian prisons)

• Production of innovative learning platforms and approaches

• Development and demonstration of successful strategies to reduce re-offending

• Important policy recommendations, including on education and training

10

Prison Ed. in the EU Education and Training Programmes (Erasmus+ and predecessors)

• Grants for staff mobility, small-scale and larger-scale cooperation projects

• Major European conference on prison education (+ thematic analyses and conference recommendations)

• Review of current situation and trends

• Research review on key aspects of prison education

• Contact and thematic seminars: Oulu 2016, Dublin 2019

• Focus on prison education in the Electronic Platform for Adult Learning in Europe (EPALE)

• Prison education has a permanent thematic rubric

• Prison Education Week, January 2016

https://ec.europa.eu/epale/en/blog/epale-prison-education-week-summary-dr-joe-giordmaina

• Partner search and other facilities (ask NA / National Support Service)

11

12

Specific EU initiatives to promote prison education within adult learning (in addition to funding of projects and mobility)

• European Conference on Prison Education (“Pathways to Inclusion”), Budapest 2010 • Watch EPALE for re-launch of detailed documentation

• Analysis of research on prison education (2011) • “Prison education and training in Europe - a review and commentary of

existing literature, analysis and evaluation” • http://ec.europa.eu/justice/news/consulting_public/0012/Fullreport_en.pdf

• Mapping of prison education in Europe (2013) • “Prison education and training in Europe – current state-of-play and

challenges” • http://ec.europa.eu/education/library/study/2013/prison_en.pdf

13

Grundtvig and Leonardo da Vinci support for prison education 2000-13

• EU Education and Training Programmes 151 • Grundtvig 126

• Leonardo da Vinci 22

• Accompanying Measures/Joint Actions 3

• 31 (out of 33) eligible countries involved in Grundtvig and Leonardo projects, 23 countries as lead partner

• Note also support via the Youth in Action Programme

14

Thematic focus (Grundtvig and Leonardo)

• Frequently addressed themes: • Transition and reintegration • Initial and in-service teacher training • Arts and cultural creativity • Adult basic education, literacy, numeracy, ‘soft skills’ • Making prison a positive environment for learning • Guidance and counselling • Validation & accreditation of prior learning, qualification frameworks • e-Learning • Vocational training

• Most focus on inmates in general or prison staff / teachers

• Some on specific offender groups (juveniles, foreigners, women…)

29

Part II:

Erasmus+ and Prison Education 2014-2018 : Overview

• 90 Prison Education (PrE) projects (within Adult education): • 45 “KA104” Mobility projects (2% of the Adult education total)

• 45 “KA204” Strategic partnerships (2.9% of the Adult Education total)(LLP: 5%)

• Also 4 projects under “KA3” (forward-looking cooperation projects)

• Other actions (esp. Youth and VET) may be marginally relevant for PrE

• Overall increase in total PrE projects from 2014 to 2018

30

Prison Education in Erasmus+ 2014-2018 : Project coordination & funding

• Coordination / participation: • 22 countries have so far coordinated a project, 12 not yet

• 20 countries have coordinated a KA1

• 16 countries have coordinated a KA2 project (under half the partic.countries)

• 14 countries have coordinated both KA1 and KA2

• Most active coordinating countries: IT 13; TR.ES.FR 8; RO 6; BE.LT.UK 5; GR.NO 4

• Highest proportion of PrE among Adult Ed: RS 11.1%; MT 8.7%; NO 8.3%; IT 5.7%

• Some countries more in KA1 (ES.IE.TR), others in KA2 (GR.IT.RO.NO), others evenly

• Surprisingly low involvement of certain countries

• Funding:

• Total funding €KA1: €863,118 + KA2: 8,384,253 = €9,247,371 • KA1 Ø €21,051, KA2 Ø €204,494: KA2 projects cost on average 10 times KA1

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

Erasmus+ Grants for Prison Education, 2014-2018 (Mobility Projects KA104 and Strategic Partnerships KA204)

KA 104 KA204

33

Mobility projects: Key features (1)

• Duration: Even distribution: 1-year projects 54%; 2-year projects 46%

• Funding: Wide range: €1,160 (FR) €114,140 (FR) per project (Ø €21,051) See separate chart for funding clusters

• Mobility ‘volume’: (based on data for 25 projects only)

1-10 ‘mobilities’: 52%; 11-20 ‘mobilities’: 28%; >20 ‘mobilities’: 20%

• Mobility duration: Short-duration mobility strongly predominates (up to one week)

• Mobility activities: Job-shadowing (15), Study Visits (13), Conferences (8) (in some cases EPEA) predominate over structured courses (10). These are sometimes customized. A few individual training placements, only 1 Teaching assignment. Some projects foresee mobile groups, others indivduals.

34

Mobility projects: Key features (2)

• Coordinating countries: Top ten countries: ES.TR(6); NO(4); BE.FR.IE.IT(3); LT.MT.NL.UK(2)

• Topics: Basic skills/Literacy (8), L2 (7), Arts (7), Health / drug therapy (6), IT (4), VET (3), post-release and social services, inter-agency collaboration, sensitization of society (2), several VetPro

• Target groups: Several “general”, some focus on foreign prisoners, juveniles, women prisoners

• Other interesting aspects of certain projects: Reciprocity, involvement of ex-prisoners in mobility, training of serving inmates to become mentors / peer trainers, liberal interpretation of ‘staff’ categories eligible to travel, often several different categories of staff travel within the same project, town-twinning as basis

• Outputs: Mostly local, but some ambitious (e.g. new plan for prison ed. in NL; new curriculum and certification system for prison ed. in NO)

• Importance attached to dissemination

Up to €10K (44%)

€10K-20K (17%)

€20K-30K (17%)

€30K-50K (15%)

>€50K (7%)

Prison Education KA104 Mobility projects: Funding pattern

Prison Education KA104 Mobility projects: Coordinating Organizations

Adult education centre National support body NGO Prison

Adult education centre 19 (45%)

National support body 9 (21 %)

NGO 10 (24 %)

Prison 4 (10%)

37

Strategic partnerships: Size, duration, funding, participation by country

• Size: 3-8 participating countries (Ø 4.7 ): 3 countries 8 (19%); 4 countr. 10 (24%); 5 countr. 14 (33%); 6 or more: 10 (24%)

• Duration: 1-year projects 2 (5%); 2-yr.proj. 21 (51%); 3-yr.proj. 18 (44%)

• Funding: Wide range: €33,970 (TR) €449,845 (IT) per project (Ø €204,494) €26,818 (UK) €149,948 (IT) per project-yr. (Ø €85,553) See separate chart for funding clusters

• Geographical participation: Top ten countries including coordination and participation: IT(25).PT(20).RO(16).ES(15).NL(12).FR+TR(11).BE+DE+GR(10)

>€100K 9

€100K-200K 11

€220K-300K 12

€300K-400K 5

>€400K 4

Prison Education KA204 Strategic partnerships: Funding pattern

Higher Ed Inst [VALUE]

NGO [VALUE]

Adult Ed Centre [VALUE]

Enterprise [VALUE]

Other [VALUE]

Prison Ed. KA204 Strategic partnerships: Coordinating

organizations

Higher Ed NGO Adult ed Enterprise Other

40

Strategic partnerships: Thematic focus

• All projects focus on successful reintegration in society

• Wide range of project themes

• Few relating to ‘classroom’ situations, far more to non-formal / informal learning

• Strong emphasis on ‘personal’ attributes / behaviour (self-esteem…) rather than cognitive aspects of learning

• Many projects span prison education and other aspects of prison: making the prison a more positive learning environment

• Many projects link prison education with other aspects of social marginalization

• Strengthening links with the outside community (probation, employers, inter-agency cooperation, awareness-raising in society about ex-prisoners)

• Several projects ‘purely’ VET or even VetPro (continuing training for prison officers)

• Collectively, the projects challenge the received notion of “prison education”

41

Strategic partnerships: Topics

• Basic skills / literacy

• Personal and social skills

• VET and employment-related reintegration

• Arts and creativity (theatre, music, dance video-production)

• IT (digital competence, e-platforms, gaming, coding…)

• Staff development (education and other staff)

• Active citizenship

• Sport

• Cooking

• Language (L2) and inter-cultural competence

• Anti-radicalization

• Health-related issues (addiction, mental health…)

• Ageing problems

• Validation / accreditation of non-formal/informal learning

42

Strategic partnerships: Specific target groups

Staff

• Prison educators

• Prison officers, psychologists, social workers, health workers…

• Staff in national prison services / training centres

Prisoners

• General (most projects)

• Female prisoners

• Juvenile prisoners

• Foreign prisoners

• Remand prisoners

• Older prisoners

• Prisoners with special needs

43

Strategic partnerships: Outputs (1)

• Research reports, state-of-the-art reports, best practice reports

• Catalogues of teaching materials

• Needs analyses

• Surveys

• Online tools, games, exercises, blended learning formats, open learning resources, e-books, videos (even a “Dynamic Virtual Reality System”)

• E-platforms and online services, websites

• Training activities, courses, programmes, modules, including joint curricula

• Procedures for validating and accrediting learning outcomes

• Methodological toolkits, manuals, train-the-trainer materials

• Quality assurance procedures

• Competence portfolios and frameworks

44

Strategic partnerships: Outputs (2)

• Peer-learning and mentoring guidelines (e.g. Inmate Health Contact Groups)

• Guidelines on many topics (e.g. inter-agency cooperation post-release)

• Policy recommendations

• Indicators (e.g. radicalization vulnerability)

• Drama productions and other artistic outputs

• Definition of European standards (e.g. 3D-printing in prisons)

• Self-efficacy tests

• Motivation strategies

• Techniques for sensitization of society regarding reintegration of ex-prisoners

• Reports on project, study visits etc.

• Project newsletters

• European cooperation networks

45

Dissemination activities (KA1 also)

• Multiplier events (local, regional, national, European)

• European networks and tools (EPEA, Europris, EBSN, EPALE, IJJO…)

• Reports to Ministry / authorities (e.g. Policy recommendations)

• Targeted training events

• Newsletter

• Websites and webinars

• Social media (e.g. Facebook profile page for interaction with other experts)

• Press releases and press conferences

• Articles in journals and newspapers

• European Study Day

46

KA3: Forward-looking policy / cooperation projects

2015 • European interaction guidelines for education professionals in juvenile

justice (PT)

• Education for foreign inmates (“FORINER”) (B-nl)

2016 • Secularism and radicalization in prison (FR) 2017 • Transnational prison up-skilling guidance and training model (“SkillHUBS”)

(SI)

What do organisations get from European cooperation? 10 answers…

• New contents, methods and tools (‚Learning Organisation‘)

• Enhanced inter-cultural sensibility of staff and learners

• Enriched knowledge and competence:

• Specific subject areas addressed by projects and mobility • Foreign language proficiency • Ancillary aspects such as project management, IT and media

• Enhanced motivation of staff, livelier organisation generally

• Sustainable professional networks as a long-term resource

• Strengthened international relations

• Enhanced status of organisation in local and regional community

• Stronger conviction of need for European unity, however defined

• Improved prospects in the acquisition of external funds

• Life-changing experiences for staff and learners

• Lasting personal friendships across borders

(«What better place to learn than in European projects?» Hamburger VHS)

47

48

Towards the future: Erasmus 2021-2027 (under negotiation)

Budget increase >100% quite probable

…also for adult education (including prison education)

Retention of main actions • KA1 Mobility Projects for in-service training of staff

• KA2 Strategic Partnerships

• KA3 Forward-looking cooperation projects

Retention of small-scale projects (with possibility of mobility for learners, though less in the case of prison education!)

Recognition of the needs of less powerful organisations

Strong emphasis on social inclusion, disadvantaged and marginalised groups and the low-skilled

In general potentially good news for prison education!

49

But don’t wait for this, act now…!

• Take optimal advantage of “Erasmus+”

• Push for greater emphasis on prison education in European Agenda for Adult Learning (national activities each year!)

• Make more use of other EU programmes, e.g. Creative Europe, Europe for Citizens, Justice, Horizon 2020

• Take contact with national operating authorities for ESF:

• to boost prison education funding within National Operational Programmes

• …and to push for improved thematic monitoring / exploitation of ESF results in the prison field

• Maybe even: lobby for launch of “PAROLE”: A European policy process on improved detention and rehabilitation, with strong emphasis on prison education

50

Take optimal advantage of Erasmus+

• KA1 Mobility projects: make more strategic use of this Action for prison

education, e.g. by national branches of EPEA or other relevant organisations

(many NAs support national / regional or field-specific consortia)

• KA2 Strategic Partnerships (process- and output-oriented): more countries,

more projects, better thematic coverage, fewer VET projects under Adult ed.)

• KA3 Forward-looking and Policy-related projects: watch out for future calls

https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/erasmus-plus/funding/key-action-3-initiatives-for-policy-innovation-social-inclusion-through-education-training-and-youth_en

• Suggestion: EPEA application for support under the “Civil society organisations”

part of Erasmus+, with activities such as:

• Formulation of a European Agenda for Prison Education

• Thematic working groups

• Advisory service on EU projects

• Dissemination and exploitation of results etc.

51

Some final practical suggestions

• Aim at projects with definable outcomes, adaptable for broader use as well as in the project partnership

• Don’t just address education within prisons, but also society outside as a key factor in reintegration

• Think of exploitation and dissemination from the very start

• Use EPALE for community-building around the project (before, during, after)

• Look at previous projects and contact them

• Remember NAs support smaller as well as larger-scale projects

• Some NAs allow field-specific and national / regional consortia (KA1)

• Involve non-programme countries where useful

• Within Erasmus+, don’t just think of Adult education but also of Youth, VET, School education and Sport

• Acceptance rates have become far more favourable in several countries: give it a try!

52

European cooperation in prison education: stimulating innovation, changing lives

Icon painting of N.F.S.Grundtvig, the « father of adult education », by Sava Kostadinov (Bulgaria), ex-prisoner, now icon painter and restorer, whose life was changed by participating in a Grundtvig project Presented by the artist to the European Commission on the occasion of the Conference on Prison Education « Pathways to Inclusion», Budapest, February 2010

Thank you for your attention! alansmith@unitybox.de The views expressed in this presentation are those of the author and do not necessarily

reflect the official position of the European Commission