• Prisoners’ Education Trust Peer Mentoring Project
It is the morning session at Rochester HMP & YOI (Young Offenders Institution). On the last day of their Peer Mentoring course, 8 lads are sitting around a big table. Before the session begins, they are already concentrating on their portfolios. Each lad, himself a successful distance learner, has volunteered to support someone new to learning in this way.
The session is led by Jacky Burns, the Youth Education Advisor, from the Prisoners’ Education Trust. She is assisted by Becky, a Trust Volunteer. This is the first time that the course is being run as an accredited course. Jacky spent a lot of time last year gaining this accreditation and is looking forward to the students getting an Open College Network (OCN) qualification for this course.
Sitting in the background, watching and offering support if asked, are Sonia Franklin-Smith, the Life Skills Team Leader, and Open Learning Tutor, Luke Crawley. The lads keep up a friendly banter with Luke, who responds with good humour. It is clear he has developed an easy relationship with them, but they respect his authority.
The session starts with Becky reminding the lads of the Learning Contract they all agreed at the beginning of the course. They have promised not to interrupt each other and they have been granted a break in mid-session. For young men, aged 18 – 21, respect is a big issue, so everyone must be satisfied with the rules for the contract to work.
The course is split into four sessions and covers topics such as Values, Self-esteem, Confidentiality, Power, Appropriate Boundaries, and Communication Skills. It also looks at how appropriate mentoring relationships should be conducted. The sessions are interactive and have a balance between theory and practical elements.
Today’s session is all about communication skills. Exercises include realising the assumptions we make on first meeting, how to signal you are paying attention when someone else is speaking, hand gestures and other verbal and non-verbal communication. Some of the students are not used to being listened to themselves, so they lack these basic skills. As the morning develops, even the quieter lads begin to feel confidence as their interaction is encouraged. They join in with a lively discussion of appropriate and inappropriate boundaries.
This is the second course at Rochester. Jacky ran a pilot here early last year and it was a big hit with the lads.
If you encourage someone’s value and self worth, they can actually believe there’s something more for them than a life of crime.
Sonia
Training mentors can provide a two-fold advantage as it provides a resource to an already over stretched Education Department and gives the mentors a sense of worth as they help others to achieve qualifications.
We ran pilots last year in Lancaster Farms, Rochester, Swinfen Hall and a modified course at Stoke Heath. All of these provided us with top quality mentors who are available to support others.
Becky
The next phase of the project is to train the Education Department staff to deliver the course within their establishment so they can better support their mentors and can train more mentors when necessary.
Young people are transferred between prisons with great frequency. This means that the number of trained mentors in each establishment can change from week to week. Having staff trained to deliver the course ensures that establishments become self sufficient in generating mentors and thus offering continuous support.
This year, Jacky hopes to open up the Peer Mentoring Course to other YOI’s across the country. This will provide a valuable and useful resource for Education Staff to use to support those young people, who are studying a distance-learning course.
The constructive atmosphere created by Jacky and Becky encourages interaction between education staff and the lads. During the mid-session break, several trainees stay in the room, chatting to staff. When the topic moves on to drugs, Luke engages them in a group discussion of the issues and responsibilities involved in using and selling drugs. In another corner, Jacky and Sonia exchange notes on the progress of various lads. Since her last visit, Jacky has noticed a deterioration in the behaviour of one young man and Sonia makes a note to investigate whether he is experiencing any outside difficulties. Some of the lads are still noticeably less mature than others and might be finding it hard to cope with life inside.
Exercises were fun, but theory was most useful.
Omar.Trainee distance learning mentor.
So what do the lads think? They turn up, keep their portfolio’s, participate and are all anxious to pass. They exchange friendly banter at first, but all apply themselves to the exercises and share their thoughts. On a personal level, each mentor keeps a diary throughout the course, where they can reflect on what they are learning. There are also feedback forms. The lads volunteer for the course and their opinion is respected. They are part of the process, so their input helps Jacky evaluate how successful the sessions are and where changes might be productive. These lads will get their OCN certificates at a prize-giving in the near future. For some of them, it will be the first certificate they have ever received.
Exercises were best, because they helped us be more open minded.
Terry. Trainee distance learning mentor
The problems involved in delivering peer mentoring courses come from an unexpected source. Each YOI Jacky visits has its own security clearance process. This means that Jacky must complete a full, enhanced security clearance for every institution. This can take months each time. Yet she has CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) clearance for youth work, to work with uniformed organisations, as a Guider and to work in higher education establishments.
I don’t mind doing it, but it has hindered the project so much. If we could have one clearance we could use in every establishment, it would solve the headache.
Jacky