Prison Teacher Training

Our joint report with UCU, Hidden Voices, had a number of recommendations, including:

The Ministry of Justice should work with PGCE providers to develop a specific unit on teaching in prisons.

We recently set up a PLA Working Group to explore the possibility of specific teacher training for future prison educators. We are working with colleagues at UCU, the Institute of Education, the Education and Training Foundation, and Weston College, and a group of PLA members with a range of expertise and experience in the area.

There is currently little in the way of prison education specific training and qualifications. While there are some materials available from the Education and Training Foundation and some relevant information within mainstream teaching, such as trauma-informed teaching, existing training for prison educators is not widely accessible.

The priorities of the PLA Teacher Training Working Group include:

• Professionalisation of the prison teaching workforce
• The recruitment of prison educators
• Prison education specific training and qualifications
• The need for bespoke and flexible curricula
• The use of existing expertise among prison educators
• Opportunities for prison educators to meet with peers