The role of OFSTED

The management and provision of learning and skills, including work-based and adult learning, in prisons and young offenders’ institutions is now inspected to the same tough standards as mainstream education and training by Ofsted, which has the responsibility of reviewing all provision receiving government funding. In carrying out this task, Ofsted chooses to work in partnership with Her Majesty’s Inspectorates of Prisons and the Probation Service to provide a coherent picture and to reduce bureaucracy. Ofsted has a comprehensive definition of learning & skills, which is illustrated by the following three strands it uses for structuring inspections instead of the programme areas that are used elsewhere:

  • Vocational training and employability
  • Literacy, numeracy and language support
  • Personal development and social integration

Within these strands Ofsted evaluates:

  • success in achieving targets including accredited and non-accredited learning goals
  • the standards of work in relation to the prisoners’ learning goals
  • the acquisition of employability skills
  • the development of skills which improve social integration
  • behaviour and attendance in learning activities
  • the effectiveness of the teaching, training and learning
  • the suitability and rigour of assessment in planning and monitoring progress
  • the assessment of learning needs and provision of additional learning needs
  • the management of the learning and skills provision
  • contribution and progress towards resettlement

Inspectors judge the quality of the provision against the Key Questions in the Common Inspection Framework (CIF) and Ofsted has produced a set of guidelines for inspectors which explain how the Common Inspection Framework should be applied to the inspection of all custodial establishments including prisons and immigration centres. However, the Common Inspection Framework remains paramount in defining the standards against which inspection judgements are made.

Ofsted recognises that education and vocational training in custodial establishments may be provided by the staff employed by the establishment or contracted to external providers. However, inspectors expect to see that learning is achieved through planned and structured programmes of learning and skills that are aimed at meeting individual prisoners’ resettlement needs and supporting their employment opportunities. This may include the occasions where prisoner are released temporarily to work outside or attend college and other learning contexts within prison such as the provision offered by the chaplaincy.

As with mainstream provision, inspectors grade each area of learning inspected. They give contributory grades for each programme and these are taken into consideration when determining the overall grade for an area of learning. However, the report on learning and skills provision does not follow the format that Ofsted uses for colleges, training providers or schools. Instead it is usually included within the Chief Inspector of prison’s much larger report on the work of the prison as a whole, which is structured as follows:

Introduction (Provides the general background to the prison and the inspection findings)
Fact page (Provides information about the type of prison, its size and accommodation)
Section 1 Healthy prison assessment (See below)
Section 2 Progress since the last report (See below)
Section 3 Summary of recommendations (See below)
Appendices (The inspection team and prisoner profile)

Section 1 provides an overview of the whole report and includes broad judgements about learning and skills. For example, the report on an announced inspection of HMP Channings Wood dated in July 2007 states:

HP28 The quality of education and training was good and learning and skills were well managed with a strategy linked to local and national labour market information. Managers adopted a flexible and responsive approach to meet needs and use available resources. Achievements were good and, although some were relatively low level, appropriate for the population. There was some good development of personal and social skills through accredited courses. Classroom attendance and punctuality were good and there was no pay disincentive for education.

HP29 There was not enough work to meet the needs of the whole population. Most jobs were of reasonable quality and appropriate accredited training was offered. Plans were well advanced to provide some additional training places in a multi-purpose workshop. During induction, prisoners worked towards certificates in manual handling, food hygiene and health and safety.

Section 2 sets out the progress the prison has made since the last report and presents the detail of the inspection findings under the following main headings:

1 Arrival in custody
2 Environment and relationships
3 Duty of care
4 Health services
5 Activities
6 Good order
7 Services
8 Resettlement

The bulk of the information on education is presented under the Activities heading in the section on Learning Skills and Work. This also includes judgements about learning in context of the library, work and vocational training, physical education and health promotion, faith and religious activity and time out of cell. The section provides detailed descriptions about the provision as illustrated by the following extract:

2.121 The range of education and training provision should be extended to enable more learners to participate at appropriate levels.
Achieved. Additional funding acquired since the last inspection had been used to increase education support in workshops and thereby targeted a wider range of prisoners. The number of prisoners having access to educational support had risen from 336 in July 2004 to 475 in November 2005, which meant that 39% of prisoners currently had access to education. The lack of physical space limited the potential for significant development within the education department. Every work area offered some form of qualification, and progression routes had been improved, enabling prisoners to study at a number of different levels.

It also includes management related issues as illustrated by the following example:

2.122 Quality assurance processes should be developed to cover all education and training activities. (5.16)
Achieved. A quality improvement group had been set up and had reviewed progress at an away day event in March 2007. When inspectors from the Adult Learning Inspectorate had visited the establishment in November 2005, they reported that the self-assessment report and development plan were used well to improve the quality of education and training; quality procedures had been developed for all departments; internal verification was now standardised; and systems for observing teaching and learning had been extended across all provision.

(Source: the Report on an unannounced short follow up inspection of HMP Manchester in May 2007)

Section 3 lists the recommendations from the whole report, of which the following example, also from HMP Manchester, is related to education.

Learning and skills and work activities
3.74 Education classes for vulnerable prisoners on E wing should take place in a separate room not on the wing landing. (2.124)
3.75 There should be a selection and formal monitoring system to ensure that all prisoners are given the opportunity to attend physical education facilities. (2.126)

Other paragraphs in section 3 focus on curriculum issues and include both judgements and recommendations for improvement, as illustrated by this extract from the report on full follow-up inspection of HMYOI Brinsford in February 2007.

5.7 There should be an increase in the variety of learning resources, especially in ICT (information and communications technology), used in lessons.
Partially achieved. Electric interactive whiteboards had been introduced to many teaching rooms in the young adult education building, although these were under-used. The less effective lessons for juveniles relied too much on young people working through printed worksheets, with little variety of activity. Assessment of young people’s work – both within lessons and of their written work – was too variable. The use of ICT in lessons was rare.

Further recommendations
5.8 There should be better use of ICT in lessons and less reliance on worksheets for juveniles.
5.9 Assessment of both young people’s work in lessons and of their written work should be improved.

The education service in prisons now has access to the support systems available to the whole of the further education system to help it address these recommendations for improvement. The Quality Improvement Agency is the main commissioner of such support and is committed to supporting improvement in the quality of offender learning.