Offender Learning
Motherwell College provides an offender learning and skills service in 7 of 14 public sector prisons. The College has been involved in the delivery of learning services to prisons since 1985 and has experience of delivering to all categories of prisoner including, remand, short-term, long-term, young people, males and females. Our Offender Learning and Skills Service employs almost 80 professional teaching staff, many of whom have in excess of 10 years experience of working in prisons.
For more information, please see the'Offender Learning Prospectus'.
Download Offender Learning Prospectus
The prisons in which Motherwell College provides a learning and skills service include:
- HMP Barlinnie
- HMP YOI Cornton Vale
- HMP Dumfries
- HMP Glenochil
- HMP Greenock
- HMP Low Moss
- HMP Shotts
For more information about the prisons please visit the SPS website:
www.sps.gov.uk/Prisons/prisons.aspx
Offender Learning Vision and Aims
Motherwell College aims to provide a learning and skills service which offers offenders a second chance, and equips them with the skills and knowledge required to reintegrate into society and move into employment and training.
The Learning Centres aim to:
- Provide a supportive learning environment;
- Engage the maximum possible number of students;
- Improve students' skills and enable them to achieve their potential;
- Increase students' self esteem, self respect and respect for others.
All delivery is subject to inspectionby Her Majesty’s Inspector of Education (HMIe) under subcontract to HerMajesty’s Inspector of Prisons (HMIP).
For more information about Motherwell’s offender learning programmes please contact:
Kirsten Sams
Manager, Offender Learning and Skills
Tel:
01698 232201
Email:
ksams@motherwell.ac.uk
Offender Learning Projects and Initiatives
The College believes that the arts and creativity generally can be a powerful tool in engaging prisoners with learning and recently led a major initiative funded by Creative Scotland to test the impact of the arts in engaging reluctant learners and supporting literacy development in prisons. The Inspiring Change project was evaluated by a multi-disciplinary team of researchers from 3 Scottish Universities. Please click here for a copy of the evaluation report.
A more recent initiative has been the establishment of a prison arts magazine, entitled STIR, which has received initial funding from the Awards for All programme of the Big Lottery. STIR is setting new standards for creative work in prisons and is run by an editorial board consisting of prisoners at HMP Shotts. The articles, art work and features which appear in STIR are submitted by prisoners from all 7 of the prisons with Motherwell College learning centre. The magazine is published three times a year and each edition will be available to view here. If you would like a hard copy of the magazine, please contact STIR@motherwell.ac.uk. The editorial board is also very interested in your feedback so please drop them a line at the same address.
Click here to read STIR Issue 1.
