Perspectives of Enhanced Thinking Skills in prisons in the United Kingdom: a qualitative case study

ABSTRACT

This article discusses findings from individual phase of a research application of mind funded by the Learning and Skills disentanglement Agency which aims to improve the thinking and communication skills of prisoners in England and Wales. Perceptions and discussions of a qualitative case investigation of an offending behaviour intervention -Enhanced Thinking Skills (ETS) - are neared including perceptions of the ET experience. Discussion includes factors which affect the delivery of the programme, like as group climate and dynamics, personality differences, answers of inmates and accounts of motivation. These are station in the context of common criminal justice policy in England and Wales.

KEYWORDS

Enhanced Thinking Skills (ETS); qualitative research; case application of mind research; prisons

Introduction

This article reports upon a qualitative case study of an Enhanced Thinking Skills (ETS) intervention which took place in a prison in England. It is part of a research throw funded by the Learning and Skills disentanglement Agency (LSDA) that is evaluating the impact of English Speaking Board (ESB) communication courses in prisons in England and Wales. The intention of this study is 'to build a picture of the delivery of interventions which seek for to improve the thinking skills of prisoners' and thereby to contextualise the ESB courses in oral communication. The not absent research team1 saw an opportunity to carry without an independent evaluation of the ESB approach, the couple retrospectively and prospectively. The opportunity to transfer oral communication skills immediately to other connections (including other courses) within and outside prisons is always available to prisoners, whereas this applies abundant less to other kinds of course.

The research throw out was planned to include:

* a postal take a view of carried out in prisons in England and Wales to ascertain which courses are believed by means of prison staff to help disentangle thinking skills

* a retrospective inquiry to evaluate the impact upon recidivism of taking an ESB oral communication course during the period 1999-2002

* a prospective experimental research to test the hypothesis that, after completing ESB courses luckily prisoners are able to communicate better with associate inmates and prison staff

* four case studies, using qualitative [i]modus operandi[/i]s to compare different approaches to the exhibition of thinking skills.

The final phase of the research, the case studies, is the focus of this article. Before exploring these findings it is important to place out the policy context in which this close attention is taking place.

The political climate

The late prison service, as we know it today, is based upon three main functions: incarceration and punishment of inmates, protection of the public, and provision of activities to educate and rehabilitate and therefore bring re-offending. In England and Wales, rehabilitation of trespassers has been the subject of several reports and policy changes during the last not many years, including those by the National Audit Office (2002) and the Social Exclusion Unit (2002) Offending behaviour interventions have approach to be increasingly on the political agenda. In 2001 a report upon resettlement by HM Inspectorates of Prisons and Probation (2001) approveed improved joint working between prisons and Probation, and conclud that, although three-quarters of initial determination plans contained targets to address offending behaviour, risk and other straits research showed that only about a third were judg to have done this 'satisfactorily or well'. upon offender behaviour provision generally, the report rest that:

although the provision of accredited and nonaccredited programmes was widespread in prison, a strategic approach had not been unfolded and too many offenders were leaving prison without their offending behaviour having been addressed (HMI Prisons 2001 pi8).

The new National Action Plan, Reducing Reoffending(Home Office, 2004b 2004c) is a rise of several preceding policy documents (National Audit Office, 2002; Social Exclusion Unit, 2002; abiding-place Office, 2003; Criminal Justice Act, 2003; domicile Office, 2004a), and outlines the Government's plans to restore re-offending through strategic direction and joined-up working. At the middle point of the plan is NOMS - the National delinquent Management Service - which was launched in June 2004 to restructure the popular activities of prison and probation in like manner as to provide 'end-to-end' management of culprits who receive either a community or a custodial decision More specifically, one of the aims of NOMS is to render certain that both custodial and community punishments make delinquents address their criminal behaviour; end rehabilitation interventions the Government aims to chop the rate of re-offending through 10%. NOMS is currently developing interventions in prisons and in the community, including those to improve educational attainment, improve public health (including remedys interventions) and target criminal behaviour. This last intervention includes ET Given that the prison population in England and Wales generally stands at an all-time high of 76934 (as at 09/09/05) and is continuing to rise, of that kind political interest and strategic changes are clearly timely.