I’m a prison teacher. AMA

[FluentinSimlish]

I was a primary teacher for 7 years but always wanted to be a prison teacher. I eventually became so disillusioned with mainstream teaching that I made the leap and now teach maths to Cat C males.

AMA

What would happen if someone was in for the rest of their life but wanted to study degrees? Would they get funding?

How does the prison service make sure that you are not the sort of person who is easily taken in by people?

in mainstream teaching, I was paid for 32.5 hours a week but worked for 60. Now, I’m paid for 37 but actually work about 34. I can’t do planning/marking on a weekend as we’re not allowed to take anything in or out of the prison. However, the wages are lower to reflect that.

Their security checks are incredibly stringent and their interview process covers this too. Beyond that, anyone can submit an intelligence report if they see something iffy and staff aren’t afraid of doing that, even against colleagues.

No. The usual student finance rules would apply.

I have taught in a prison twice now.
Once was for the summer between completing my teaching degree and starting my first post in the September.
The second time was when I,left secondary teaching after 10-11 years. I taught there for a few months - a year, then I took in an advice and guidance role in the prison doing 1:1 work with the prisoners.

I really enjoyed it - to be honest it felt less stressful than the school I'd been in beforehand too!

I found that after a few years I needed a change - I think it was the harsh environment of concrete and banging metal gates, echoing long corridors, etc,

Do you think it's something you are happy to do long term or does the environment affect you much?

Thanks for the thread, this is interesting! I've got loads of questions, you don't have to answer then all

Are they generally engaged and want to learn or just turning up for the attendance pay?

If a student doesn't 'pass' their level, do they get to resit it?

Is it mostly teaching to a group or do you work directly with individuals if they need extra help?

Do you have a set curriculum or do you tailor lessons to your students?

How rewarding is it compared to primary?

I have an alarm that I can press, or a whistle that I can blow. Beyond that, I don’t really have anything beyond a sense of humour and other lads in my class saying “we’ll always have your back, miss. If anyone touches you, they won’t stand a chance.”

I would like to say thank you OP. I write to
a young man serving a 5 year prison sentence who I managed while working with young offenders years ago. The positive transformation he has made as a result of receiving education while in an adult
prison is amazing. He left school
aged 13 (he clearly had ADHD and possible
ODD) but only got diagnosed aged 17 by which time he was involved in petty criminality. He proudly wrote and told me he passed his maths and English and is applying for jobs as he will be released later this year. He has had a very traumatic and tough upbringing and I’m so glad people
like you have invested your patience and knowledge to make such a positive change to his life.

It’s a massive problem and as some of the men are vulnerable to it. They say to me that they have to be strong and just keep saying no to anything that is offered/any schemes but for some people it’s not that easy.

I’m not affected by the environment particularly, but I’m married to a prison officer (he works in a different prison) so we can both offload at home knowing what each other has been through. I’d like to say it’s long term but it can get a bit samey so not sure!

I’ll answer them all 😂

Most of them are engaged once they realise that it’s not like school (most of them have had negative experiences of school) and they enjoy coming. Some just tolerate it but I just give them a quick reminder that if they don’t like coming, working hard and engaging will get them through their exam and out of the door quicker than if they mope about and refuse to work!

They can take the exam twice if they fail then they need to wait 6 months before they can resit.

I teach to a group of no more than 8 (because my classroom is quite small!) if they want 1:1, they can go onto outreach education where they have individual lessons twice a week and do the set work in their own time but we have a separate tutor for that and the men don’t get paid to do outreach.

we have a set of objectives that we need to hit, but unlike primary you can do several objectives in one session. For example, yesterday we did mean and range, as well as probability, calculations and problem solving. I have about 8 weeks of planned lessons but tailor those depending on my group.

I find this job so much more rewarding. You get those ‘lightbulb moments’ from your students more frequently and it means so much more when you do. Education in prison can be incredibly powerful for them and I genuinely believe it’s a huge part of their rehabilitation.

This is a lovely story. Prison education is so powerful. It’s not just teaching them maths or English or whatever, it helps them to believe in themselves, find other ways to express frustration and find ways to solve problems. I say in my class that the words “I’m thick” are banned because no one is thick or stupid, you just don’t quite know how to do it yet. Even something as small as that changes their mindset (in my classroom at least. They’re completely different once they get back to their wing but I can’t control that!)

Who prepares the lessons/planning? Are there schemes you have to follow or do you write your own?

most of them, I’d say.

I’d say about 90% of mine want to get out and settle down and never come back. However, they’re released to the same area, to the same people and same pressures so it’s probably quite easy for them to get drawn back in. The reoffending rates for my prison are quite low though, so for most of them don’t come back which is good.

I plan the lessons. Our exam board is Edexcel (there’s a few. City and Guilds and OCR also offer it) so we use their learning objectives and plan lessons around those objectives.

My university is looking for volunteers to teach maths in prison so this is very timely, thanks OP.

I am more interested in teaching numeracy and life skills maths than school/degree curriculum- do you know if is this something that is offered ?

Not the op, but have worked in adult prison ed (cat a/restricted YOs and cat c adults, mixed)

Literacy and numeracy are the main things taught, ime, from the very lowest levels up. Everyone under a certain level is supposed to,access maths and English, though this isn't always the case. There were a number of teachers teaching this basic skills every day in the two,prisons I worked in.

'Life skills' wasnt a class as such and came in under different forms.

Thanks for your reply. It sums up my big concern that staff are fully aware that drugs are getting into prison and accept this as a fact rather than something that needs addressing and stopping!
You clearly know what is happening and presumably so do all the staff. What do they actually do to stop it!? No amount if education is going to help if they are stoned! They will leave prison addicted and fall instant prey to the same dealers and networks as on the inside.
My relative goes out on licence to a hostel ... the dealers know where he is and the whole grim cycle starts again. Back he goes to prison.
Until someone addresses access to drugs in prisons every penny spent on education or rehab is wasted!

Do you ever talk about drugs and the way people are exploited by users and dealers, eg the modern day slavery?

We are aware of it and steps are taken to stop them coming in. We don’t just ignore it and let them get on with it, but it is a huge issue. Like you say, it’s a cycle that a lot of people play a part in.

Absolutely right. We build life skills in to our lessons and we have cooking on a budget classes and money management classes and things like that.

Yes, all the tutors talk to them about things like that.

Do you have prisoners who well educated, eg bent accountants?

How well resourced are you beyond the schemes of work you teach from? For example, are manipulatives, etc provided to help scaffold?