Ministry of Justice written question – answered at on 20 March 2017.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 8 March 2017 to Question 65939, whether she plans that prisoners following a prison education regime will be tested in line with the core common curriculum set nationally by accredited examination boards; and whether it is her policy that the results of prisoner examinations at GCSE or A-level will be considered in national education averages and in national examination grade curves.
Improving levels of education is an important goal for offenders. As well as applying our maths and English focussed core common curriculum which will be set nationally, prison governors will be encouraged to work with local employers and use labour market data to choose the right vocational training to help offenders into employment.
Vocational and other qualifications can play an important part in communicating an individual’s competences in a clear and reliable way and acting as signposts for the progress he or she has made. Where it makes sense to accredit education and vocational training delivered in custody through the award of a qualification, the appropriate awarding body’s curriculum will be used to prepare the learner for the end assessment leading to the award of that qualification.
GCSEs, A levels or other qualifications where studied for and achieved by adults in prisons are not included in the performance tables or national averages published by the Department for Education. Some prisoners are released on temporary licence to study at local Colleges: where a prisoner aged 18 is enrolled in learning with a mainstream provider outside the prison, qualifications achieved are included in the performance tables and national averages.
All learners that take the GCSE or A Level qualification, including those taken in custody, are considered in national examination grade curves. Their results are included within the Joint Council for Qualifications’ published figures in the summer following the exams. Although the setting of the boundaries is informed by the subset of students that are matched to their prior attainment, which is not always possible with adult learners, the boundaries apply to all students.
We intend, in future, to measure education and training in prisons by assessing a prisoner’s progress against milestones set out in their Personal Learning Plan, itself an element of the overall sentence plan. Studying for a GCSE or an A level should be part of a Personal Learning Plan where such study is appropriate. If such study is on the learner’s individual plan as a milestone, the prison’s governor will be accountable for performance towards its achievement
Yes1 person thinks so
No0 people think not
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