Responding to the Needs of Prisoners with Learning Difficulties in Australia

2022 ◽  
pp. 1311-1321
Author(s):  
Jason Skues ◽  
Jeffrey Pfeifer ◽  
Alfie Oliva ◽  
Lisa Wise

Offenders who are convicted of a crime in Australia are encouraged to participate in educational and vocational training programs during their time in prison. However, one of the significant challenges encountered by not only prisoners who enroll in educational and vocational training programs, but also for the staff who teach into these programs, are prisoners who experience learning difficulties. Prison teachers and other staff are ordinarily unaware of which offenders experience such difficulties. Given that unidentified learning difficulties are associated with poor educational, employment and psychological outcomes, it is critical that prisoners who experience specific learning difficulties are identified, and that educational and vocational training programs offered in prisons cater for the diverse learning needs of all prisoners. This review highlights issues with the identification of learning difficulties and proposes methods of supporting prisoners who experience learning difficulties and the people tasked with managing them. Such a review offers an important contribution to the literature on educational and vocational training programs in prisons as well as practical implications for prisoners, teachers and administrators.

Author(s):  
Jason Skues ◽  
Jeffrey Pfeifer ◽  
Alfie Oliva ◽  
Lisa Wise

Offenders who are convicted of a crime in Australia are encouraged to participate in educational and vocational training programs during their time in prison. However, one of the significant challenges encountered by not only prisoners who enroll in educational and vocational training programs, but also for the staff who teach into these programs, are prisoners who experience learning difficulties. Prison teachers and other staff are ordinarily unaware of which offenders experience such difficulties. Given that unidentified learning difficulties are associated with poor educational, employment and psychological outcomes, it is critical that prisoners who experience specific learning difficulties are identified, and that educational and vocational training programs offered in prisons cater for the diverse learning needs of all prisoners. This review highlights issues with the identification of learning difficulties and proposes methods of supporting prisoners who experience learning difficulties and the people tasked with managing them. Such a review offers an important contribution to the literature on educational and vocational training programs in prisons as well as practical implications for prisoners, teachers and administrators.


Author(s):  
Mark Selikowitz

There is widespread recognition that children with specific learning difficulties may experience social and emotional problems because of their learning difficulties, but it is often not realized that impairment of social skills may itself be a form of learning difficulty. This is due to a limitation in the way that the brain is able to understand social conventions. This is called a social cognition (or social learning) deficit. In this chapter, I shall first discuss social cognition deficit, and then discuss a number of behaviour problems that may occur as a result of a specific learning difficulty. Social skills, like any other skills, have to be learned. Yet much of what children learn about socially appropriate behaviour is not actually taught to them; they simply pick it up as they go along. Some children of normal intelligence seem to be less able to learn these things, even when taught. This may be their only area of difficulty, but it is commonly associated with other learning difficulties. These children have been accurately described as being ‘socially tone deaf’. They do not pick up the same cues as other children of the same age. They do not seem to predict the social consequences of their actions. They may be uninhibited, undressing in public without the same embarrassment that their peers would experience. They may be overfriendly to strangers. They may frequently say very tactless things without realizing the effect they are having. They often do not read facial expressions and are oblivious to whether someone is angry or upset with them. They may kiss classmates at an age where this is no longer appropriate. They may make unusual sounds in public. They may be insatiable in their activities, not knowing when to stop in the way another child of their age would. Although such behaviour may be apparent to all who meet the child, the people who are most likely to notice it are the child’s peers. With them, the child often sticks out like a sore thumb. This is something that may not be apparent if the child is only observed in a one-to-one relationship at a clinic.


2015 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Maritz ◽  
Jerome Donovan

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the synergies, similarities and differences between entrepreneurship and innovation education and training programs, with the aim of challenging the context of such programs. Design/methodology/approach – This study utilises an extensive review of extant literature in the fields of innovation, entrepreneurship and education. The literature, propositions and discussion are intended to provide a bridge between entrepreneurship and innovation education and training programs and seek to address the scientific legitimacy of these education and training disciplines as separate, yet integrated disciplines. Findings – Identifies a need to reconsider the diversity and relationship between innovation and entrepreneurship education and training, primarily from contextual, theoretical, measurement, distinctiveness, content, pedagogical and typology points of view. The range of multiple teaching models and learning processes to embrace in various contexts. Research limitations/implications – The propositions allow for the combination of teaching initiatives in a theory-driven framework and their applicability to specific entrepreneurship and innovation education and training situations. Practical implications – The authors’ contribution identifies the synergies and differences between entrepreneurship education and training programs. The propositions highlight areas of contextualisation and practice-based view application, to adopt specific learning initiatives between constructs. Originality/value – The authors address a gap in the literature regarding the delineation of entrepreneurship and innovation education and training, which has thus far remained sparsely addressed in the education and training literature. The authors provide a practice-based view of propositions, developed for future testing.


Author(s):  
Ashik Marandzhyan ◽  
Tyulikova Lana

The most important national problem of each country (or a separate ethnos) is the problem of quality management of the people of the country (members of the ethnos). The success of solving this problem is realized through the creation of appropriate training programs that are implemented in the system of education and upbringing of the country. The tasks of vocational education systems include both the professional training of members of society and the enhancement of their culture of life, including spiritual and moral education. For the success of this most important problem of society, it is first and foremost necessary to create a Uniform Commonwealth Pedagogical Platform (UCPP) for creating vocational training programs in conjunction with the tasks of spiritual and moral upbringing.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-39
Author(s):  
Ani Zlateva

The article examines some modern deffinitions of system of difficulties in learning process which children and students experience. Тhe main understanding of the educational difficulties and the children experiencing them have outlined. The creative potential these children have is presented by the studies of authors from different countries. The development of their giftedness and talent in different art fields could be used as means of improving their learning abilities in various school subjects, in which they experience difficulties.


2016 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 189-196
Author(s):  
Vian Harsution

Lesson study is a systematic, collaborative, and sustainable method of improving the quality of learning. Lesson study emphasizes the exploration of students’ learning needs; teacher openness towards learning difficulties encountered; the willingness of teachers to receive and provide advice and solutions to the difficulties encountered; and the consistency of the various parties to follow up the suggestions and solutions. Implementation of lesson study involving teachers, principals, and experts in the field of education. Kurikulum tingkat satuan pendidikan or abbreviated KTSP is operational curriculum formulated and implemented by each educational unit. KTSP has the characteristics, namely: giving broad autonomy to the educational unit, involving the community and parent participation, involving the democratic leadership of the principal, and require the support of a working team that is synergistic and transparent. KTSP based on the learning process, needs to be supported by a conducive learning environment and fun to be created by teachers.Teachers and principals in a professional, systematic and collaborative create an atmosphere that fosters independence, tenacity, entrepreneurial spirit, adaptive and proactive nature of the learning process. Thus, the learning needs of students who fulfilled optimally and professional ability of teacher who have increased on an ongoing basis, may usher in success – based learning KTSP. It means that the lesson study provides positive implications for the KTSP – based learning.


Author(s):  
Ruth Swanwick

This chapter proposes a pedagogical framework for deaf education that builds on a sociocultural perspective and the role of interaction in learning. Pedagogical principles are argued that recognize the dialogic nature of learning and teaching and the role of language as “the tool of all tools” in this process. Building on established work on classroom talk in deaf education, the issues of dialogue in deaf education are extended to consider deaf children’s current learning contexts and their diverse and plural use of sign and spoken languages. Within this broad language context, the languaging and translanguaging practices of learners and teachers are explained as central to a pedagogical framework that is responsive to the diverse learning needs of deaf children. Within this pedagogical framework practical teaching strategies are suggested that draw on successful approaches in the wider field of language learning and take into account the particular learning experience and contexts of deaf children.


2012 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 163-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shelby M. Palmer

Postsecondary programs offering vocational training and college credit to eligible inmates have had difficulty finding a place in the U.S. correctional system. Politically motivated restrictions preventing inmates from receiving federal funds for college resulted in drastic program closures. Although new laws restored funding to select inmates, enrollment in postsecondary correctional education only recently reached pre-cutback levels (established in the late 1980s). This is set in contrast to the significant increases in U.S. prison populations and spending that have occurred since the early 1990s. Contextual issues specific to the correctional system and ideological conflicts between the prison educator and prison staff may further impair enrollment and program completion. Through review of the political and contextual issues influencing the modern design of postsecondary prison education, this work seeks to propose best practices that may support the unique learning needs of the adult learner in the correctional system.


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