Career opportunities in the prison service
Many practising teachers see education in prison as part of gaining wider experience of the learning and skills world generally. The high number of part-time appointments offers a degree of flexibility, but there are also full time posts as well. Then there is the possibility of gaining some management experience as programme manager, with the opportunity of securing a education manager’s post. At the moment all of these opportunities are advertised through the contracted provider, usually a general FE college. Colleges that provide learning programmes to a lot of prisons may have fairly senior posts overseeing the delivery of all their LSC funded prison based programmes, which provides another promotion opportunity.
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What advice would you give to teachers/instructors embarking on a career in prison education?
Generally speaking, prison service managers are selected from operational grade staff (prison officer grades) and by open competition from external applicants. Individuals can enter the Prison Service and move into a Governor or Deputy Governor role after just two years of training and development. This Senior Prison Manager Programme is open to experienced managers outside the Prison Service as well as non-operational staff within. Consequently, teaching and management experience of the kind outlined above might provide a useful platform for an application for the post of Head (or Deputy Head) of Learning and Skills. These are prison service posts and attract the same benefits as any other post within the service. The breadth of knowledge about the prison service needs to be well developed for a Head of Learning and Skills to be successful. Such a person might like to pursue a wider career path within the prison service by application to wider governor grade posts, with the possibility of becoming a number one governor in due course.