6.30 The provision of vocational training was inadequate. At the time of the inspection, only two prisoners working in the kitchen were participating in accredited vocational training
qualifications. Accredited qualifications were available in horticulture but prisoners who worked in this area had elected not to take a qualification.
6.31 Some good vocational training resources were not being utilised. A suite of training rooms were equipped to offer joinery, painting and decorating, and plumbing training. However, because of staff shortages and reductions in the activities budget, these courses were no longer available. In our survey, only 21% of prisoners said that vocational or skills training would help them on release, against the 51% comparator.
Recommendation
6.32 The joinery, painting and decorating, and plumbing training workshops should be
Education
6.33 Education provided an average of 42 classes over four weekdays. Approximately 66% of the population attended education classes. Class duration was just over an hour. The maximum number in each class was six and the average attendance was around 80%. Most prisoners attended education part time. No provision was offered in the evening or at weekends. Classes were closed for eight weeks of the year. A limited timetable was scheduled for these weeks, staffed by full-time education staff and volunteers.
6.34 Classrooms in the education department were well decorated and furnished, and each accommodation wing also had a classroom facility. Resources to support learning were satisfactory. Most curriculum areas had a range of textbooks and learning materials but textbooks to support GCSE and A level provision were not readily available and took too long to acquire. The range of information learning technology (ILT), such as interactive white boards, was not well used by tutors, learning materials had not been developed and no software had been purchased. Tutors were well qualified and experienced, with most holding teaching and degree-level qualifications in their subject area.
6.35 Tutors had a flexible approach to training and most met the range of different needs and abilities of their learners. They knew the prisoners well and developed purposeful relationships and learning environments. They paid good attention to developing learners’ personal skills, including developing own self, improving attitudes and behaviour, and working as a team. 6.36 Prisoners produced a good standard of work and applied their skills well, particularly in IT and
art and craft, and several art, poetry and free writing pieces had won Koestler awards. In cookery classes, the tutor developed learners’ cooking skills well while improving their numeracy skills and their understanding of diet and nutrition.
6.37 Most lessons were well planned but schemes of work for accredited qualifications were too brief and insufficiently specific to plan learning in a sequential way to ensure that the syllabus was covered appropriately. Individual learning plans were not used effectively and were not sufficiently detailed. Most tutors recorded what prisoners had achieved in each session but did not provide sufficient focus on short and medium targets for prisoners, so that they would know what they had to do to progress and improve.
6.38 Achievements were good, and a high proportion of learners completed their programmes. GCSE English and mathematics results were particularly good, with 100% achievement at grades A to C. A few prisoners progressed on to A level programmes in English.
6.39 The range of literacy, numeracy, IT and art classes was adequate but there were insufficient personal and social development courses and there was little higher-level learning for longer- stay prisoners.
6.40 Two prison officers provided guitar and keyboard tuition on some accommodation wings. Prisoners could borrow musical instruments and sheet music. Encouraged by the chaplain, a few prisoners were embroidering religious scenes to decorate the chapel. Some of the work was of outstanding quality.
Recommendations
6.42 Appropriate reference material should be provided to enable learning.
6.43 Training should be provided to give staff the skills to develop materials to add interest
and variety to learning sessions.
6.44 Individual learning plans should be further developed to record learners’ short- and
long-term targets, as well as ongoing achievement.
6.45 The range of personal and social development programmes should be extended.
Library
6.46 A prison orderly and a volunteer ran the library and provided a welcoming environment. Neither had any previous experience or library qualifications. The library was open for only one half-day each week. All wings had the opportunity to visit the library during this time but some complained that they often had as little as 20 minutes in the library each week.
6.47 Some current legal texts were available on English and Manx law on request. Other legal texts were out of date. A copy of governors’ orders had recently been placed in the library for reference.
6.48 Book stock had been catalogued and reordered. Good paper-based lending records were kept and provided the prison with information on the most popular genres borrowed. The orderly also managed guitar loans and mended and tuned the guitars.
6.49 The book stock, at approximately 700 items, was too small. There was a heavy reliance on donations to supplement the stock of books, magazines and periodicals. Books from the Isle of Man lending library were changed only once a year. Prisoners were not aware of a mobile library facility and there was no process in place for them to order books through this service. There were insufficient books to support education, although the education department held a range of textbooks and resources for each curriculum area. There were few talking books. A small range of easy readers and graphical books was available to less advanced readers. No newspapers were kept, although prisoners could pay for a daily newspaper to be delivered on the wings. A small range of magazines was donated to the library.
6.50 Storybook Parents had recently been introduced and three men had books being processed for their children. The Toe by Toe reading scheme was not offered as an additional way to support the literacy needs of prisoners who chose not to attend education.
Recommendations
6.51 Training should be provided for the library orderly. 6.52 Library opening times should be extended.
Housekeeping point
6.54 Legal texts should be updated regularly.