Embedded literacy and numeracy takes training to new levels

Prisoners earning NZQA qualifications through Corrections Inmate Employment (CIE) will soon get the chance to improve their reading, writing and maths skills at the same time.

Research indicates that many New Zealand adults lack literacy and numeracy skills. This need has been recognised by government and industry bodies alike, and practical effective strategies are being put in place to address the issue. Industry Training Organisations (ITOs), Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics (ITPs) have started to embed reading, writing and basic maths training within their curricula.

Corrections is aware of the need for training in reading, writing and maths as prisoners are overrepresented in poor basic literacy and numeracy statistics. The Prisoner Skills and Employment Strategy launched late last year identified improving literacy and numeracy in prisoners as a key target in improving prisoner’s employment prospects.

Educational provider Workbase has presented Corrections with the opportunity to further implement embedded literacy and numeracy training. National Prisoner Training Manager Saen O’Brien says, “Workbase approached us with a proposal to work together to train our instructors on how to deliver training in reading, writing and maths in their vocational training.

“This fits in well with the work already underway with ITPs, so four CIE instructors and four national office staff were asked to take part in a pilot group to gain their National Certificate in Adult Literacy Education and so far the majority of staff have completed their training and gained their qualifications.”

Training & Development Manager Herman Steyn teamed up with Horticulture Instructor Laurette Locke to take what they had learnt in the course and use it in a real setting – at the Rimutaka Prison CIE Nursery. “We held four workshops with eight prisoners who were selected from Laurette’s regular horticulture training. I was amazed at the success of it. You could see the guys’ confidence grow as they improved their reading, writing and maths skills,” says Herman.

For Laurette it was an eye opener to find that the level of literacy was as low as it was. “I used to wonder why prisoners weren’t getting it but never realised it might have anything to do with a lack of basic reading or writing ability. However I notice such a marked difference in how quickly they pick up the training now – even though it’s early days.”

Auckland Prison Light Engineering Instructor Gordon Astrop says that his ‘revelation’ from participating in the pilot training was that Māori prisoners sometimes require a differing approach, having strong traditions of oral history. “This has quite an impact as five of my seven trainees are Māori. Working one-on-one with them is making a big difference, as we can talk through mistakes as they happen. This also gives me a chance to give some positive feedback, something many prisoners have not had much of in their lives,” says Gordon.
 
Gordon had another ‘light bulb moment’ as he calls them. “Welding involves quite a bit of numerical skill. After doing the pilot course I changed my delivery of the course, and I spent three hours teaching the prisoners to deduct numbers. Previously I would have taken them outside to the workshop and asked them to do some measuring – I had no idea that many of them were just guessing how long 3cm was. But after practising measurements all morning, it all went much smoother in the workshop. That blew me away as I could see what it must mean for them not to have an idea of numbers.”

The progress being made by instructors such as Laurette and Gordon illustrates that including embedded literacy and numeracy training within vocational courses dramatically increases the uptake of vocational skills by learners, as well as improving their  literacy and numeracy ability.

“All the people who took part in the pilot group are really enthusiastic,” says Saen. “They will be delivering the new training to 100 prisoners during 2010, and with assistance from the Tertiary Education Commission CIE will also be training 28 instructors per year. Instructors will be better equipped to help prisoners improve their skills, prisoners will be better equipped to advance in their training and hopefully we can turn their lives around and stop them coming back to prison – something that will make for safer communities for all of us.”