Teaching in prison: the potential for transformation

This study explores prison education from the perspective of the teacher, considering their views and experiences of teaching in a prison. Personal and political constraints on prison education are considered, alongside motivation for teaching in prison. An attempt is made to understand why the participants find their work so compelling given the various challenges. Qualitative data is collected from small groups of educators who are involved in a range of different subjects, from colleagues teaching the Certificate/Post graduate Certificate In Education with mixed groups in prison; to novice and experienced teachers who have done, or are doing the same course. Drawing upon my own experiences as well, I analyse the data to investigate my notion that teaching in prison is transformatory. Formal bodies of knowledge, such as theories of adult learning and transformation support the work and sit comfortably with the creation of informal knowledge through discussion and participants' reflective narratives of their experiences. The central motif of this work is that of 'unlocking', used as a powerful extended metaphor for both educational potential, teaching, writing research and going into the contested 'space' of prison education. The project is successful with regard to exploring the issues and motivations of prison educators, providing insight into their work and why they find it compelling, as well as my own development as a teacher and researcher. The notion of teaching in prison as transformatory is explored and the potential rather than the actuality for this is confirmed.Faculty of Educatio