From walls to doors: workplace learning

From walls to doors : workplace learning

After ten years of trial and error with regards to vocational training within the Bruges prison, the prison governor will present the lessons learned and good practices. During the seminar he will disseminate on how a prison can facilitate vocational training, what processes had to be changed, how to keep prisoners and staff motivated and what problems were encountered. The combination of work and vocational training and all potential forms of on-the job training in prison will be discussed as well.

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Introduction

- Lessons learned while trying to implement longlasting vocational trainings in the prisons where I worked

- Why should we be in favor of education- Detention itself : trying to improve the lives of detainees/prison

should be more than just doing time- Reintegration: prepare our prisoners for (conditional) release

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Belgium

- Federal state : devolution of political matters- The federal state : security- The Flemisch/French/German Community : “assistance and

services”- “the policy coordinator”- “the coordinator of educational services”

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The nineties

- The start of a sociocultural service in a big Brussels remand prison and a first one year lasting vocational training in horticulture

- It’s hard to get out of your bed and Playboy is better then boring theory- Prison staff expected a big “thank you” and claimed exclusion

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The nineties - lessons- Prisoners and schooling is a valuable but difficult

combination- School means failure- Don’t put them too much in the classroom : go for theory and

practice- A longstanding vocational training is much more than just a

training : structure, discipline …- Screening is not enough. Permanent coaching is necessary

- Prison staff needs as much coaching as the prisoners- They have to support the training. The need for a mental switch- Completing a training means dealing with problems in a different

way. The call for traditional good order and security, for disciplinary sanctions.

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Bruges prison

- The start of vocational trainings in the department for long sentences

- Electricien and welder- We found an enthusiastic partner in the adult education

department of the Free Technical Institute of Bruges and together with them, the “policy coordinator” and the “coordinator of educational activities”, we started our first yearlong vocational training in electricity, followed by another yearlong training for welder. Both of these trainings are still running on an alternate basis, starting each school year with a group of at last ten prisoners.

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Bruges prison-The start of vocational trainings in the department for long sentences-Electricien and welder

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Bruges prison-The start of vocational trainings in the department for long sentences-Electricien and welder

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Bruges prison-The start of vocational trainings in the department for long sentences-Electricien and welder

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Problems

- it’s hard to motivate long sentenced prisoners : better regimes and “institutionalisation”

- A prisoner is not a “long term thinker” : you only make money if you work

- Prison staff in industrial workshops is begging for “good workers”

solutions

- publicity, information sessions, flyers, going from door to door

- The same amount of teaching hours was organized during a longer period, permitting in this way the combination with a half-time job in an industrial workshop. We negotiated this with staff, who were at first nog happy with the idea

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Problems- What is critical for your partner

is also critical for you : the school gets subsidies based on the number of students. Their Board of administration will stop the vocational training if it means a financial loss for them

solutions- The half-time job solution

avoids a number of dropouts- This is a longstanding issue.

We disagree with the inspection criteria

- Work with a waiting list that can buffer your first dropouts

- Trainings were organised in a more modular way. Prisoners could step in during the training and get a number of partial certificates.

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Problems- The vocational training for

welder was held in the industrial workshop (smithery). Advantages: Solving a staffing problem and finding a convenient space without too much efforts- but : staff unhappy because of

a supplementary mission (guard the students while producing in the workshop) and –again- they picked away the good workers

solutions- We came to a compromise.

The training had to include as much as possible the welding techniques and skills needed to work in the smithery. On the other hand, prisoners had to complete their vocational training.

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Bruges prison : the shift to workplace learning

A number of lessons learned, the will to invest more in vocational training on the one hand and the mere fact on the other hand that we reached our limits (financially, in terms of staffing and in terms of logistics) when talking about organizing vocational training in the “traditional” sense of the word, led us finally to the concept of workplace learning : learn and get trained and qualified while working in prison.

“From walls to doors”, workplace learning in the prison kitchen was born.

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Bruges prison : the shift to workplace learning

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Bruges prison : the shift to workplace learning

“obvious wins”

- The workplace is also the learning place : no additional staff needed and solves a lot of logistical problems

- It solves the money problem : salary + motivational fee

- Prisoners develop skills while working in prison : validate these skills

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Bruges prison : the shift to workplace learning

“obvious wins”

- It is the most fundamental way of involving custodial staff in vocational training for prisoners

- It is easier to fit in the daily prison schedule : less additional courses/actvities

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Bruges prison : the shift to workplace learning

“Problems to solve”

- Processes in the kitchen had to be changed : you can’t get a certificate by only doing the dishes

- How to motivate staff and how to get them out of their daily routine?

- You can’t serve “hard potatoes”

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Bruges prison : the shift to workplace learning

“ found solutions”

- 25 prisoners working in the kitchen – 16 of them became students. Balance between training and “productional stability”

- Staff training, meetings, continuous follow up

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From walls to doors

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From walls to doors – the project- ESF- funding- Partners : CDRGA, Hotel school Spermalie, Consortium Webros, the

policy coordinator (FC), the coordinator of educational activities, VDAB,

- Start : January 2014- Operational start : October 2014, 360 training hours in between

October 2014 and April 2015- Diploma “catering assistant?” (grootkeukenmedewerker) - On the floor : one teacher and one coach- 16 students : 4 left due to transfer or discipline, 12 got to the finish

line, 11 succeeded. No dropouts for “motivational reasons”- 4 of them work outside now, 3 of them work in a kitchen and thus

were reintegrated based on the diploma they got in prison

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From walls to doors – the project

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From walls to doors – the project

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From walls to doors : conclusions- Overall, it worked out well- This one was expensive, but it

was an ESF project. (additional coach, developing tools and instruments)

- The problem of dissemination : you can’t dismiss the whole kitchen team!

- Two cooks ain’t easy

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From walls to doors : conclusions- Other possibilities in terms of

workplace learning in prison :- Domestic services- Industrial workshops

- We still did not invest enough in prison staff : perception of loss of traditional power, lack of educational skills

- Education is powerful in terms of self-esteem

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Thank you! Q&A

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