International Certification

The starting point for this project was the realisation of  the challenges that we at Halden College in Halden Prison face in ensuring the effective delivery of education to foreign national inmates.  Through our national and international contacts in other prisons we received confirmation of similar challenges being experienced across other institutions.  During a visit to Halden Prison by five teachers from "2 Gymnasio Avlona mae Lykiakes Taxis" in Greece last year during their own Erasmus + Mobility project, we were able to discuss these challenges in more detail, identifying further similarities in our experiences.  Our project coordinator and other members of the steering group have seen these challenges played out in other institutions in a number of EU countries during prison visits in the past as well.

Our school is proposing a three-phase extended project for the development of a curriculum and certification system specifically targeted to foreign national inmates in EU prisons:

Phase one, the Erasmus+ Mobility project is focused on short-term gain goals for the school linked to new methodologies and practices, as well as a thorough assessment of the target group of inmates towards our long-term goals, which are based upon the development of a shared, certified curriculum. During this phase the project team, comprised of nine teaching staff with a range of subject specialisms, will conduct three job shadowing activities in prisons in Greece, Spain and Lithuania. Phase one will consider foreign national inmates in Halden and the three other European prisons: what are the challenges with these groups; what legal rights to education do they have in each country; what educational provision is made for these inmates; does this vary, and in what degree between countries; which subjects do they study; how effectively is ICT used in delivery; how are foreign nationals integrated in the classroom environment; and which teaching methods are most effective? Phase one would also see work begin on the development of a web-platform for certification and sharing of resources. This work would form the basis for phases two and three of the extended project.

Phase two of the extended project would involve an Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership application to develop common frameworks for certification of skills and qualifications achieved in prison education, using best practice from each of the partner institutions.  At this stage we would hope to increase the number of partner countries and organisations involved to attract a wider range of contributors to the development of resources. The frameworks would allow for adaptation to suit provision in the various partner countries.  Further development of the web-platform in this phase would include the publication of templates for certification, as well as teaching resources developed by the project partners and other interested contributors.

Phase three would involve an Erasmus+ Policy project application focusing on the completion of the proposed web-platform to extend the reach of the project.  Correctional institutions in other countries would be encouraged to access the portal and contribute to the development of programmes and certification. We would hope to link the site to that of Norway's National Manager of Prison Education, Fylkesmannen i Hordaland (Hordaland County Council).  We would also be seeking authorisation to link to the EPEA website (European Prison Education Association) and permission to use branding from both these organisations. The proposed platform would provide access to: certification documents agreed with our international partners; examples of methodologies and best practice; suggestions and examples for delivery of learning, such as lesson plans, schemes of work and resources; as well as links to other EU projects in similar fields.