Reducing re-offending and improving public and staff safety through education of offenders.
Most teachers would envy a class size of nineteen, although some might be put off to learn the students are young offenders and the classroom is inside the razor wire at Hawkes Bay Prison.
Tutor Kim Knight admits it’s a ‘hard job’ teaching inside the wire, but she is adamant that most of her pupils are intellectually able and keen to do well.
“Almost all of them have very troubled backgrounds and when they first come to the classroom I sometimes have to ask them to leave for bad behaviour, but they’re soon asking to come back.
“They have the same hopes for qualifications and a job that anyone their age has.”
She says she motivates reluctant learners by spending extra time with them and asking them what they want for themselves when they get out of prison.
“I relate what they are learning to the life they hope for. If they want to be a builder, I ask ‘how would you calculate how much wood you need to build a wall this big?’.
“They need, as everyone does, to understand the relevance of education in their lives.”
Corrections has custody of almost 600 prisoners aged between 15 and 19, though most of them are 17 or older. We are obliged to provide all prisoners under the age of 19 with a free education. The majority of them use Correspondence School courses to work towards Unit Standards and National Certificates of Educational Achievement (NCEA), and most get 20 hours a week or more in the classroom with a tutor like Kim.
At Hawkes Bay Prison the young prisoners don’t get much of a choice of subjects at first – they have to cover off the basics by attaining a national certificate in either English, maths or computing.
Once they’ve gained a certificate they’re allowed a wider choice.
Maths and legal studies are the two most popular choices (in line with the choices of the general population who do correspondence courses), but Kim says they can choose anything.
“We have students doing French, Maori, Spanish, music, art history, Latin, accounting, business studies, physics … their interests are pretty broad once they’ve learnt how to learn.”
Sixty per cent of adult prisoners fail a basic skills check when they enter prison, and just over half of them have
no formal qualifications.
But Kim says that most of her pupils leave with some form of qualification if they’re there for six months or more. If they’re there for only a short time she looks at their records and tries to help them finish something they’ve started elsewhere.
And not only does the focus on learning mean qualifications – and, in the future, more chance of getting a job – it means better behaviour while in prison, making life easier for our corrections officers and other prisoners.
“We had one young man who was terribly damaged. His family never visited him and he was always fighting and being locked up. "We thought he wasn’t very bright and he always hung to the back in the classroom.
“But we persevered and discovered he was actually extremely bright. He got his National Certificate in six months and went on to tertiary-level business studies. He became very witty and popular – and his behaviour improved immeasurably.”
Perhaps a little learning is not such a dangerous thing.
The first national training session for youth offender tutors was held in partnership with the Correspondence School in April with the goal of enhancing staff capability and strengthening partnerships.
The tutors ‘talked shop’ such as discussing daily practices for motivating reluctant learners, and made contact with Correspondence School representatives.
“Just to associate with the other tutors and share experiences was great,” said Tutor Michelle Maru from Waikeria Prison.
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ISSN 1178-8453