Prison education in the Norwegian penitentiary system.

Busola Socially Excluded Education Association is active in the field of prison education. One of the projects that the association was involved in, was the project titled „Prison education in the Norwegian penitentiary system” which was organized within the Education Programme. It was a Study Visit thanks to which Polish prison educators gained very valuable professional experience.

The visit took place between 22-26 November 2021 and four teachers of the Continuing Education Centre no 1 in Iława took part in it. The visit was organized in a few Norwegian penal units, more specifically in prison schools operating in these penal units. The aim of the visit was to gather examples of good practises as well as to get to know with the educational system in selected prison educational units in Norway. The visit was also a great opportunity to broaden knowledge about Norwegian penitentiary system and to compare Polish and Norwegian conditions of working with prisoners. It was also a chance to verify common myths regarding Norwegian prisons.

Four teachers of the Polish prison school took part in the study visit. Marek Kasprzycki – mechanical vocational subjects, Zbigniew Patorski – woodcraft vocational subjects, Wojciech Mroczkowski – IT vocational subjects, Mariusz Młotek – English language teacher.

According to the visit itinerary the first day was least busy and the main point was to meet the host coordinator who described all meanders of the prison education system in Norway. After this interesting lecture, Polish prison educators talked about Polish prison education system. In the evening we managed to find a few hours to walk around Oslo which turned out to be a very good idea taking into consideration our tiredness after travels. After a couple of hours of walking through streets in Oslo, we went back to the hotel to rest.

The next day was a visit in a town called Kløfta, where there is a Ullersmo penitentiary unit. We spent the next two days there. On the first day we visited the school and we took part in math classes which were led in English and Norwegian languages. A very interesting point of the visit was the workshop part of the school. It was particularly interesting for our teachers of vocational subjects. We got to know how work is linked with the practical classes in the field of metal and woodworking industry vocational training. Prisoners produce there little wooden houses, wooden furniture or folded canoes.

On another day spent in Ullersmo we “found out” there is another school that operates there. It is connected with the fact that Ila penitentiary unit in Oslo is being renovated and all prisoners and prison teachers were temporarily moved there to temporary living and school blocks in Ullersmo. In this school and this part of the prison we spent two days in total and we also took part in classes – history and math. We had a chance to talk to the inmates and hear them out. Thanks to that we could compare their point of view with ours. Teaching staff told us about how schools operate and function there, they told us about the maximum number of students in classes, about practical classes, etc. We, on the other hand, told them about the functioning system of Polish prison schools. Talks and conclusions were endless. On the last day of our stay in Ullersmo we visited prisoners’ living quarters, prison shop and other places directly connected with everyday functioning of the prison.

On the last day of our stay we moved to Drammen and its penal unit. The unit is located in one building-complex together with a police station and the court. It is not a big institution – only 54 inmates. During the day we took part in various classes, including music lessons in which we took very active part. Similarly to other visited penal units, we had a chance to talk to teaching staff, prison guards, the management as well as with prisoners. At the end of the visited wee handed over a few souvenirs from Iława and after that we ate lunch together and came back to Oslo.

As participants, we are very enthusiastic about what we saw. We can absolutely emphasise how advantageous are possibilities to meet fellow colleagues and discuss with them important issues connected with adult education. What was also very important, was the fact that the Norwegian partners were very eager to share their experiences with us.

It was very hard not to notice that the state widely supports prison education – they spend well more money on school equipment, on a less numerous class groups, etc. A fundamental difference between the Polish and Norwegian system is that both prison guards and prison teachers working directly with prisoners supervise 5-6 inmates, with whom they spend majority of their working day. It is a key element, since they have a lot of time to get to know their mentees, their problems and needs. We could clearly see individualized forms of work and interaction with inmates which leads to positive relations between a teacher/guard and an inmate. In Norway, each prisoner is motivated and activated to work or learn. Such a system improves social rehabilitation process and in the end helps an inmate to return to society after their sentence.

Summing up, the visit needs to be considered as highly successful because we had a chance to get to know with rules and regulations that are used in Norwegian penal units and their prison schools. If possible, we will try to borrow some Norwegian solutions and “plant them on our soil”. Certainly, we would like to take part in a similar undertaking in the future and hereby we would like to sincerely thank “Busola” Socially Excluded Education Association for such an opportunity.