What is being done to develop lecturers and other education staff who work in prisons?
There is some evidence that those working with offenders have to some extent felt like a Cinderella service, working in relative isolation from the broader learning and skills sector, with poor access to development and support networks. The review of the prison curriculum by the Learning and Skills Development Agency reported “teacher expertise is an important factor in the curriculum offered, yet staff development opportunities are often insufficient”. Prison education contractors are obliged to provide in-service training, but this element of the contract often has not been adequately monitored. There are also many part-time staff who may work in several prisons and lack time to attend staff development meetings. Rates of pay for these in-service training events are usually very low, providing little incentive to encourage part-time teachers to attend. This position has begun to shift in recent years and the introduction of a new Star award for offender teachers reflects the fact th
