In 2016, the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) launched a Learning & Skills Strategy stating that ‘everyone in our care has the opportunity to engage in creative and flexible learning that unlocks potential, inspires change and builds individual strengths’. The strategy and accompanying vision were strongly influenced by a previous Scottish Government ‘Pathfinder’ project exploring innovative ways of addressing literacy/numeracy issues and a refocus on the role of the creative arts in prisons.
Chaired by Dr Victoria Knight director of the Prison and Probation Research Hub at De Montfort University, James King, Head of Education at the Scottish Prison Service and author of the strategy reflects on its outcomes and how the underpinning principles have influenced his recent Europris Expert Group Report on prison education.
