During 2015-16, the Education and Training Foundation (ETF) was a partner in the government-commissioned Coates Review of prison education in England and Wales, to examine how it supports effective rehabilitation of prison learners. As part of its contribution to that review, the Foundation published:
The charity continued its commitment to supporting the implementation of the recommendations of the now published Coates Review, which includes a focus on improving the digital literacy of prisoners. In this respect, the ETF commissioned research to identify where there is promising work already underway that improves access to and use of technology within prison education provision. The ultimate aim is the improvement of the digital literacy and hence employability and rehabilitation of the prison population.
The research identified examples of successful use of ICT to support learning in prison which are presented through examples collected over the research time period. The research also highlighted barriers to successful digital literacy such as limited access to Virtual Campus, out-of-date software and limited (and sometimes, no) connectivity to the internet.
The recommendations from the report build on where digital literacy is being successfully taught and how this should be rolled out across the whole prison/secure estate. These recommendations include feedback from those involved in the research and are: