Prison Education in the Digital Age

Statssekretær Per Botolf Maurseths innlegg på PIPELINE-konferansen "Prison education in the Digital Age" i regi av Fylkesmannen i Hordaland, 13.09.07, Hurdal.

Ladies and gentlemen, dear participants.

The importance and value of learning/education is undisputable. Learning/education is an important human endeavour independent of age, gender and the individual’s specific context. Learning and education serves important goals, both on the societal level and on the individual level. To make use of digital media is increasingly demanded in contemporary society. The digital age, a term often used to characterize modern society in general, has definitely made its influence on education. ICT in education is no longer only a special tool or a supplement as it once was introduced, but an integrated part of education.

Taking this as a vantage point I would like to give you an overview over important issues related to prison education in the digital age, more specific; the use of ICT in the context of training in the correctional system.

Before we move on it might be useful to give you some background information on important current policies in Norway on ICT in education in general. General policies on ICT in education, and more specific, the enhancement of using digital tools in learning, is as important within the prison learning context as in education in general. This also has its counterpart in the Norwegian legislation; in Norway it is an important principle that one must not lose rights to the service offerings of the society because one is sentenced to prison. This also applies for the right to education.

The Knowledge Promotion reform
The Knowledge Promotion is the latest reform in primary and lower secondary education. It introduces changes in substance, structure and organization from the first grade in primary school to the last gad at upper secondary school. Through the Knowledge Promotion reform and the new curriculum based on a set of basic skills, it has been established that being able to use digital tools must be a fundamental skill on the same level as being able to express oneself verbally, being able to read, do arithmetic and to write. The Knowledge Promotion reform sees these basic skills as a fundamental for enabling students to acquire and develop knowledge in various subjects. These are skills that must be attended to in all subjects during the entire primary and lower secondary education. At the same time, the associated measures of competence in each individual subject also pose tangible requirements for the use of digital tools and services. This causes the schools to give their pupils broad access to digital tools and services, and it poses substantial requirements for raising the competency of the teachers.

What is digital competency?
The Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research has defined digital competency as that competency that builds a bridge between skills such as reading, writing and arithmetic and the competency that is required in order to use new digital tools and media in a creative and critical manner.

The incorporation of ICT into teaching in Norwegian schools is anchored in the Programme for Digital Literacy 2004-2008. The programme’s vision “Digital literacy for all” aims to make digital literacy accessible to everyone and integrated at all levels of education and training. Also the use of ICT in learning shall be supported by secure and cost-effective solutions for infrastructure maintenance.

Its pedagogical anchoring is detailed in the recent Knowledge Promotion reform which will be the key driver to educational change in Norway in the years to come.

Also the Storting White Paper No. 17 (2006-2007) entitled An Information Society for all provides important general guidelines. Together, these provide an overall picture that describes needs for equipment, infrastructure, competency, content and research on the use of digital media in the teaching process. The great challenge is to increase the pedagogical use of ICT in the education, regardless of the educational level of the students. All students have to be able to use ICT reliably, confidently and creatively so they can develop the skills they need in order to be able to be full participants in the information society.

Education in the correctional system
Education and training has been an important part of the criminal justice system for several hundred years. The goal has always been to socialise the inmates and to give them skills so they would have the possibility to manage on their own lives and avoid new criminality after the completion of their sentences. As early as the 1700s and 1800s, inmates were given training and education in different manners. In the 1700s the prisons laid a heavy emphasis on the confirmation instruction. At the end of the 1800s, new regulations for education were adopted. Their principal aim was for every school-age inmate to compleat his schooling.

In Norway, the educational authorities took over the responsibility for education in the prisons in 1969. This was in line with the general trend in society at the time.

There is a broad consensus that education is amongst the best ways to develop the individual and society at large. It is of major importance that everybody shall have equal opportunities to achieve the goals they have set. These opportunities are as important for the inmates as for the population in general. The primary task of our schools is learning and competency development.

In Norway education in the correctional system is a part of the local education system. Evidently; this training has to keep level with the quality and development in education in general.  As mentioned before it is a principle in Norway that one shall not lose ones rights to the service offerings of the society because one is sentenced to prison. This also applies for the right to attend school. Everyone has a right to primary and lower secondary schooling in accordance with the Norwegian Education Act. Persons who have completed primary and lower secondary education also have a right to a three-year upper secondary school education. In addition, adults who were born before 1 January 1978 and who have completed their basic education, but who have not completed the upper secondary education, have a right to it. Persons who do not have a right to an upper secondary education may under special conditions have their tangible competencies assessed. In Report to the Storting White Paper No. 16 (2006-2007) the Ministry of Education proposes to amend the Education Act so that more adults receive the right to upper secondary education and training. As far as upper secondary education is the most requested education in the correctional services this will also have implications for prison inmates. All the Norwegian prisons, were there are requirements, have educational offerings today.

Despite heterogeneity amongst the prison population it is a known fact that many of the people serving prison sentences often have a deficient educational background. A paper from 2006 published by the County Governor of Hordaland (Innsette i norske fengsel) shows that 7 % of the inmates have not accomplished primary school education. 38 % of the inmates have primary school as their highest accomplished education, compared to 19.5 % of the Norwegian population seen as a whole. Nearly 84 % of the inmates under 25 years of age have not accomplished any upper secondary school education. Given the evidence on average lower educational level it is important to note that the same paper reports that the majority of the inmates want to take part in schooling. It is the upper secondary school education which most of the inmates demand. A survey from 2004 found that about half of the inmates with an educational aspiration want vocational training. A yearly paper published by the County Governor of Hordaland on education and training in the Correctional system shows that there have been an increase of schools which offer vocational training to the inmates.

ICT in prison education
In 2004, the government released Storting White Paper No. 27 entitled Education and Training in the Correctional Services. “Another spring”. The paper, among other things, addressed the use of ICT in the training. ICT is, as stated previously, an integrated part of the educational system. It is however a challenge to increase the pedagogical use of it in the teaching process, regardless of the level of education of the students. The training in the correctional system must as a point of departure be on the same level as ordinary education, and serve to qualify for upper secondary education or higher education, work and mastery of daily life.

This can hardly be achieved without knowledge and competency in ICT. It is a fact that today ICT is embedded in all domains of our professional and social practices.

Challenges within the context of education in the correctional system related to ICT

At a general level there are four areas of challenges within the ICT policies:

• Infrastructure
• Competency development
• Digital instructional resources
• Research and development work

ICT is an integrated part of the education here in Norway. Still we know that technology can reinforce existing differences and/or create new divides. This applies for the whole society and within the education system.

Use of ICT in the education within the correctional system also involves other considerations. On the one hand, ICT is a natural and necessary part of a modern education. On the other hand, the execution of the sentence causes the inmates to have different degrees of limitations on their communications due to security concerns. ICT can be a challenge to the demands for security. At a certain degree this can make some of the inmates vulnerable of not being able to participate in the so called “digital age” and to develop skills needed to handle a life in freedom on the same conditions as other citizens regarding the use of ICT. Digital skills are not only related to formal skills within specific fields. It is also a skill both useful and necessary for the social competency.

To summarize - One major challenge specific to the context addressed here, is security. More accurate, how to incorporate the use of ICT within the necessary limitation on communications due to security concerns.

Section 3 of the Norwegian Execution of Sentences Act establishes that the execution of the reaction must be justifiable in terms of security. The prisons must hence be able to check that the inmates are not planning criminal activities or actions detrimental to society while in prison, including with persons outside the prison. Thus it is a fundamental principle with respect to the security concerns that an inmate’s communications with the world outside the prison must be able to be checked, and that this checking must be done by the prison. The rules are formulated in accordance with the same principles for visits, letters and other correspondence, and telephone calls. Use of the Internet and other electronic communication is regulated in the Execution of Sentences Act with associated guidelines, and special rules are given for the use of equipment in connection with schooling.

A model has been worked out between the central prison and educational authorities for network instruction.

The “Network Support Training” project
The “Network Support Training” project is an element in the follow-up to the earlier mentioned Storting White Paper No. 27 (2004-2005) Another spring and the subsequent recommendation (Recommendation No. 196, 2004-2005).  At present there are two prisons with a low degree of security, and two follow-up classes, included in the project. The project is focused on expanding the educational offerings for basic education and for higher education through the use of remote instruction/network-supported instruction. The objective of the project is to establish a permanent remote instructional offering/network-supported instruction for all inmates in low-security prisons (open prisons) and for all students in follow-up classes.

The Central Administration of the Norwegian Correctional Services has, under certain preconditions, given its consent to the use of the Internet and e-mail for the schools in high security prisons. The security challenges are primarily associated with communications through network-based services, for instance the Internet, e-mail and the like. Use of a PC without a network connection is not a large security risk and in itself provides no communication possibilities. It is however possible for inmates to equip PCs with communications equipment in an illegal manner, which makes it necessary to check the use of a PC without a network connection anyway. In the project entitled “Flexible training for inmates” the use of ICT by four schools to enhance their educational offerings to their students is described. The report indicates that the technology became an instrument for the development of self-confidence and competence and a source of motivation for a number of the inmates. It also pointed out that if the students in the prisons are to receive a fully adequate educational offering, then use of the Internet must be a part of the education. Since we also know that the submission of exams via the Internet will also be demanded in the future, it is absolutely necessary that we find secure solutions that address the needs of the inmates to make use of ICT/Internett.

In order to meet the security-related and pedagogical challenges associated with the use of ICT/Internett in the correctional facilities, a central forum has been established for the ICT area consisting of representatives from the educational authorities and the correctional system. The committee will, among other things, assess technological developments and on the basis of a security-related perspective provide proposals for technical improvements and simplifications. Technical solutions have now been developed that give a good minimisation of risk for network-based instruction. At present this solution has been implemented in 4 Norwegian prisons, and the intent is to introduce the solution in all Norwegian prisons after a trial period. The ministry will continue to follow this work in order to assess the need for further efforts in this area.

The PIPELINE project
This will be the final PIPELINE conference. The PIPELINE project, which is a so-called Grundtvig 1 project, has participants from 9 different countries. The project was started by a Norwegian initiative; hence this final conference is being placed in beautiful natural surroundings in Norway. The target group for the project is inmates, both women and men, however the instructors who teach in the prisons will also benefit from the project by being able to develop professional expertise for the knowledge society. I believe the conference will go into further details of this.

Training and education are important parts of the rehabilitation and will help the inmates qualify for work and mastery of daily life when sentence is served. Compared to just a few years ago the labour market requires a higher degree of formal competency and digital skills these days. The PIPELINE project has been a central contribution to improve the prison education in Europe.

Thank you for your attention and good luck with this final PIPELINE conference!