The Project

In this section (a) the main goal of the project is introduced; (b) the existing situation and challenges are briefly presented (Section 2.2 in detail); and (c) specific objectives both short-term and long-term are defined.
Our main goal is the improvement of the educational experiences for young prisoners taking into consideration the following conditions and corresponding challenges:

• • The international literacy about prison as an institution and prison education (PE), regarding:
    • • Prison’s framework. Despite the differentiation regarding institution, jurisdiction and culture and historical period, there are common features for imprisonment. The absence of any means for
        meaning-making and identity formation in prison, and the imposition of indeterminate and unthinkably long prison sentences to which these experiences are linked, might arguably constitute inhumane and degrading conditions (Liebling, 2011). The emphasis is on the oppressive (and disciplinary) tendencies dominant in prisons; practices are formulated around discourses of control and discipline, resulting also to a disappointing and limited education.
      • Peculiarities of prison education. The imprisonment itself; differentiates prison education from the spirit of standard education. Often uniformed curricula incompatible to their ages are used; teachers are not well prepared, e.g. on principles of intercultural education, adult education (Petsas, 2017).
      • Possible good practices have already tried addressing the above issues. The search for good practices in a detention context has shown that between 2000 and 2011, a total of 113 projects relating to prison education and training were funded through the Socrates, Leonardo da Vinci and Lifelong Learning Programs. Almost all 51 European countries participating in the Lifelong Learning Program were involved in at least one project and a wide variety of themes were addressed, the most common being “transition and reintegration”, followed by “adult basic education”, the “prison as a positive environment for learning” and “arts and cultural creativity”. The majority of the projects worked with all types of prisoners (Prison education and training in Europe, 2013). The “Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program” is a distinct one that has inspired lots of projects all around the world (https://www.insideoutcenter.org).
    • Current curricular theories that challenge educational policies and curricula are driven by the neoliberal politico-economic perspective under the umbrella of globalization. Instead of globalization the term ‘internalization’ is used by Pinar (2014); a term referred to curriculum studies describing the articulation of difference through democratic dialogue among educational communities within and across local and cultural borders. In a such framework the curricular procedures are conceived in a dynamic dimension defined by the verb ‘curere’ (Pinar, 2006). This reconceptualization challenges knowledge as a skill set standardized tests measure and the “global marketplace” presumably employs while considering curriculum as a ‘life journey’, in relation to the personal, social and political dimensions.
    • The importance of dialogical methodologies, like critical communicative methodology (CCM), that create the ground for equal participation and recognition and goes beyond the distinction between descriptive and normative sociology. It supports that successful actions bring scientific knowledge in dialogue with people’s knowledge and institutions that participate in the same action, placing all the voices in the centre of the dialogue, from the beginning of the project until forming the conclusions (Flecha & Soler, 2014).
    • Team’s long experience on prison research and education. All team members have experience on PE as researchers or/and teachers. Particularly, all the team members have been involved in the recent relative project CoSpIRom “Common Spaces for Roma Integration” including young Roma prisoners, while the research of 3 PhD students and one postdoc researcher focus on PE issues. 

Adopting a sociopolitical perspective that provides tools for understanding the above depicted situation and possible gaps together with the corresponding conceptual framework, we formulated the following specific objectives. In order to implement our objectives, common spaces in prison need to be created, that differ to the typical prison context, challenging power relationships and disciplinary practices that are part of prison culture. These spaces will provide: (a) a sense of emotional security to prisoners; (b) the ground for developing transformative processes for young offenders, that will potentially contribute to their sustainable rehabilitation, as well as for involved prospective teachers enhancing their practice/rendering them more ready to respond to the needs of non- mainstream populations; and (c) the conditions for knowledge maximization and social capabilities development on the part of prisoners. 

Specific objectives:

• To design, implement and evaluate:
  • curricular activities in a dynamic and interactive process exploiting innovative practices (Drama, ICTs)
  • other interactive actions;
  •  
• To mitigate existing violence between young prisoners, often coming from different cultural and religious backgrounds facilitating their peaceful coexistence through innovative and collaborative
  actions;
• To contribute to young prisoners’ empowerment that will better prepare them for their rehabilitation and, at the same time to raise awareness among prospective teachers, while better preparing them for their future roles;
• To develop a theoretical framework for prison education that integrates alternative educational forms contributing to the dialogue for transformation and aiming at the sustainable social rehabilitation of young prisoners.

Challenges for ACTinPRISON research
The search for good practices in a detention context has shown that between 2000 and 2011, a total of 113 projects relating to prison education and training were funded through the Socrates, Leonardo da Vinci and Lifelong Learning Programs. Almost all 51 European countries participating in the Lifelong Learning Program were involved in at least one project addressing a wide variety of themes, the most common being “transition and reintegration”, followed by “adult basic education”, the “prison as a positive environment for learning” and “arts and cultural creativity”. The majority of them worked with all types of prisoners and not specific sub-groups (Prison education and training in Europe, 2013). The pains of imprisonment may vary by institution, jurisdiction and culture, and historical period, but some ‘essential features’ of imprisonment and generalized responses to those features also exist (Liebling, 2011). Individuals, labeled as deviant tend to feel excluded from conventional society considered to be different because of their behavior. The absence of any means for meaning-making and identity formation in prison, and the imposition of indeterminate and unthinkably long prison, might arguably constitute inhumane and degrading conditions (Liebling, 2011). Common barriers to participation are lack of motivation and previous negative educational experiences. Also, overcrowded prisons, prisoners fighting, a high rate of suicides, severe self-harming, prisoners of different ethnic backgrounds, religion and culture and also, are some serious problems (Oikonomakis, 2014), that education has to face.Another aspect that affects prison education specifically in Greece is the fact that most of the teachers working in prisons schools have had no sufficient training for PE, or on multicultural education or even adults’ education, depending solely on the teachers’ sensitivity and personal awareness (Hawley et al., 2013). The involvement of prospective teachers in this project responds to this challenge.

Developing collaboration between prospective teachers and young prisoners on the one hand an inside-outside bridge is created and on the other hand prospective teachers will have the opportunity to better understand marginal youth lives developing empathy, which is crucial for their future role. In that way the proposed project addresses the inadequate educational opportunities for young prisoners as a matter of social justice; the ultimate goal of the project is, through the exploration and developing of alternative forms of education for young prisoners, to create better educational experiences responding to issues of social integration and social justice as a constitutionally guaranteed right of any person and it is suggested in UNESCO’S principals towards inclusive and equitable education and lifelong learning for all (UNESCO, Education 2030). Grounding the notions of inclusion and equity on prison situation, we consider that prisoners’ successful (re-) integration is linked to securing the access to material resources, social connections, and psychological grounding necessary for positive social functioning while the idea of diversity in an environment of involvement, respect, and connection is promoted, where the fullness of concepts, experiences, and perspectives are exploited to create value. On the other hand, social justice provides the framework and a philosophy about equitable access to resources and equitable participation in decision making (Graybill et al., 2018). Particularly, social justice pedagogy — as an expression of social justice—aims to alert people about structural inequalities exploring for example the status of knowledges in terms of cultural categories such as race, gender, sexuality, ability or nationality. The project explores clear linkages between teaching/learning and research and suggests that processes and attributes based on one set of social justice principles should inform all of these relationships (Leibowitz & Bozalek, 2016). Therefore, taking into consideration the peculiarities in a detention context, such as inmate’s physical exclusion from society, stigmatization, marginalization and diversity, ACTinPRISON adopts a socio-political perspective, aiming for the development of curricular activities and other interactive actions by equal participation of young offenders and prospective teachers in common spaces within the prison context.