Coordinated by:
UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, Hamburg, Germany

Participating Partners:

• ANGEL & CRED, Bucharest, Romania
• ARSIS, Thessaloniki, Greece
• JVA Billwerder, Hamburg, Germany

Project goal:
To analyse and improve the curriculum and literacy material for literacy and life skills training in prisons in different European countries.

Aims:

• To improve literacy and life skills training for youth and adults in prison that is relevant to their life experience and context;
• To develop suitable strategies to overcome existing barriers for inmates to participate in educational programmes;
• To create curricula and learning materials which are responsive to prisoners life situation; and
• to help potential learners to overcome negative school experience and to develop a positive attitude to lifelong learning.

Objectives:

• To exchange ideas and best practice among different European institutions running literacy and life skills programmes or aiming at setting up such programmes for inmates;
• To disseminate best practice through the creation of a “knowledge base” website or other information media;
• To review learning programmes and materials in order to identify criteria for quality and relevance in literacy and life skills for the specific target group;
• To exchange ideas and best practice that ensures learners’ successful participation in educational provisions;
• To examine monitoring and evaluation methods built into literacy and life skills programmes for prisoners; and
• To formulate relevant recommendations to policy makers, trainers, supervisors and practitioners active in the field of youth and adult education for prisoners.

Justification:

• Existing literacy training often fails to address the specific context that inmates have to cope with while being in prison.
• The lack of relevance of the curriculum & learning material is having a negative impact on the motivation of potential learners to join the courses or to finalize them successfully.
• The lack of literacy and other life skills will make reintegration for inmates into society more difficult.

Main activities:

• Workshops, mutual visits and website to exchange experiences on curricula and learning material in literacy and life skills
• Identification of good practice examples in different countries
• Development of criteria for improved curricula and learning material with a lifelong learning perspective
• Promotion of exchange and cooperation among trainers, - professionals or volunteers, - working in the field of literacy in European prisons

Expected outcomes:

• Improved literacy and curriculum material
• Suitable strategies
• Development of contextualized learning material
• Development of a positive attitude to lifelong learning