Education, The Way to Rehabilitation by Mark Humphries

Prison can raise many images in our minds. While you might not have given prisons a great deal of thought, I can assure you that when you hear about them on the news, or read about them in your newspaper an image or two appears in you mind. It might be that you see Ronnie Barker in Porridge, or you might have the media presented images of holiday centres, or places of continued rioting going through your mind. Read more…

Let Them Out And Throw Away The Key by Michael Irwin

“Prisoner (22) dies at Northern Ireland Jail” – This is a minor line in The Belfast Telegraph today: https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/prisoner-22-dies-at-northern-ireland-jail-37266751.html
My first reaction is choking back the tears, sadness, revulsion and anger. Who’s my anger directed it and why should I care. The word ‘care’ is highly relevant here. The sanitised bog standard reply by the Northern Ireland Prison Service (NIPS) is almost predictable as I’ve heard it so many times. Read more…

Educational Transition and Reform: A Digest

Integrating practical experience with classroom studies has long been regarded by some educators as a panacea for a host of educational problems such as increasing student interest in school, and stemming dropouts, while providing a stimulus for learning. Advocates maintain that by combining theory with practice, students see connections between their studies and the larger community, and develop abstract principles from practical application. Thus, according to this view, students find new meaning in their classwork developing internal control and motivation, and developing the ability to make reasoned, independent judgements. Read more…