Offender learning in the community

Background

Offenders have lower educational and skills levels than the general population and fewer opportunities to access the services they need. Since education and qualifications help people to gain employment, and since employment is often key to helping ex-offenders go straight, effective and engaging education and training for offenders can play a very important part in reducing reoffending. There has been a lot of research into learning opportunities in prison, but less is known about provision for offenders serving sentences in the community. The learning needs of offenders subject to community orders are likely to be very similar to those of prisoners, but the context is very different, as are offenders’ perceptions of the accessibility and quality of learning, and the incentives and barriers to participation in education and training.

The Project

In Outside Chances (PDF), we commissioned De Montfort University Division of Community and Criminal Justice to examine learning and skills provision for offenders in the community, and how these services are experienced by the learners themselves. Interviews were conducted with 127 offenders and more than 30 professionals, including offender managers and education providers, in four Probation Trust Areas in England.

Key Messages

The report puts forward several recommendations for improving provision for offender learners in the community, focussing on:

• Learner and provider perspectives on what works best
• The diverse learning needs of offenders
• Initial assessment of learners - the first critical point on the offender learner journey
• Motivating offenders on the path to rehabilitation
• Learning and skills in the bigger offender rehabilitation picture
• The value of aspirational approaches in education and training
• The depth and breadth of the benefits of learning and skills in rehabilitation
  
  

Next Steps

Outside Chances (PDF) is only the first step in our work towards promoting innovative good practice in each of the areas outlined above. Over the next few months we will be working closely with professionals involved in offender rehabilitation, as well as policymakers, to build on the findings of this report.

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