Encouragement, Discouragement and Connection: The Role of Relationships in Prison Education Experiences

Existing literature in the field of prison education often focuses on rates of reoffending, conceptions and understandings of personal change and the correlation between increased educational attainment and employability. More recently, with the publication of ‘What is prison education for? A theory of change exploring the value of learning in prison’, 1 it has become more widely recognised that we cannot focus on education in prisons purely as a means to employment. Instead, prison education is beginning to be seen a vehicle for continuous personal, social and cultural development. A broad interpretation of the value of prison education has been central to my own research on prison education2 and this article focuses on one theme arising from this research by examining the role and importance of relationships for men experiencing education within a custodial setting