By Louisa L
(Above: Sydney's Long Bay Jail)
Vanguard
doesn't bullshit about prisons. In 50 years of publication it's never whinged
about prisoners having it easy or the other garbage that Murdoch's media churns
out. We tell the truth.
Prisons are part of the state
apparatus for defending capitalist rule.
As
Anatole France wrote 100 years ago, “The law, in its majestic
impartiality, forbids the rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, beg in
the streets and steal loaves of bread.”
No kid is born wanting to go to
gaol. But an utterly corrupt system, that reinforces multibillion dollar
corporate profits, while privatising and cutting funds to public schools,
hospitals, broadcasting or other services that benefit ordinary Australians,
fails too many of our kids.
The research on the effect of small
class sizes in the early years of schooling and on high quality pre-school
education, is overwhelming; we can prevent many kids ending up in prison as
adults if we spend enough on early education. Do the governments that manage
capitalism do it? Not a chance!
Different
relationships
Teachers in gaols try to serve those
that end up in prison. In NSW gaols, teachers are paid less than colleagues in
schools and TAFEs, so recruitment's a problem and, until they recently won
permanency industrially, prison educators were on six month contracts.
Teachers Federation representative
Stewart Burkitt outlined issues earlier this year. “We
don't want a deficit model, as if prisoners haven't got anything to offer. Lots
of them are very skilled, very capable,” he says.
According to Mr Burkitt, teachers
are glad that education isn't compulsory, because it allows teachers to foster
a different environment and different relationships. “Education is seen is a
cooler place, so there are not many incidents,” he explains.
No
rights to education
Remand prisoners have limited
educational access, and even that is under attack. They could be on remand for
three years and cop a four year sentence, getting just one year of education,
but building literacy skills alone could take years.
Prisoners are often required to
undertake offence related courses to get parole, but they need a certain level
of literacy to succeed, and many don't have that. This is why a broad adult
education curriculum, including art, computer studies, ESL, literacy and
numeracy are so important, to bring people into education, to encourage
thinking and build capacity, not just to train them in narrow work-related
skills.
Teachers are also mindful that
things can change at any time. There's a review into educational provision in
gaols, where Burkitt states, “everything is on the table.”
“The government's aim of shifting
all metropolitan gaols into remand will limit educational access, and there's
always the prospect of privatisation and contracting out...'Let's get Acme
Training in' like they did in the UK. It's cheaper, but duplication, no
follow-through and demoralisation were the results,” Mr Burkett continues.
Time
to do better
Mr Burkitt says that education isn't
just training for employment. “We're not trainers; we're teachers! All the
research demonstrates that those who have engaged with education while in gaol
have a better chance of staying out.
“Therapeutic, well-being programs
are integral. They're gateways that bring people to other things. We want to
ensure a broad adult education that prisoners need!” he declares.
Already a 50 per cent funding cut
has negatively affected prisoners' ability to access distance education and
even basic supplies of pens, exercise books, folders, art materials, etc. as
well as teaching resources and access to professional learning.
We need a system that supports all
people to reach their potential. Vanguard is on the side of those who try to
create that fairer future.
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