Did that really happen? The marginalising of fiction in the prison education classroom

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the reformulation of the English curriculum for prison education across England and Wales in the second decade of the twenty-first century. As a PhD researcher and Functional English teacher examining the use of drama and creative education in a prison at the time, a prohibition on the use of fictional reading and writing became a significant challenge. I survey the context in which this marginalisation took place, its obstruction of my research on creativity in the classroom and my re-turn to fiction as a research method in response.

KEYWORDS:

• Prison education
• Functional English
• fiction and institutional culture

Notes on contributor

John G. Parkinson began a career in prison education in 2004. He completed his PhD on creative education practice in 2017, focussing on prisons in England and Wales. The PhD research employed arts-based research methods, predominantly fictional performative writing, to examine the role and function of arts and creative activity in prison education. At the time of writing, John teaches in prison part-time whilst exploring opportunities for research, guest lecturing, consultancy and creative writing.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

ORCID

John G. Parkinson http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0476-6698

Notes

1. The wider context for this article is documented in my auto-ethnographic, arts-based PhD thesis DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.14067.84006.

2. The PAD was established to explore the use of the performing arts (mostly focused on drama-based activity) for enhancing employability and social skills with prisoners. It was closed along with creative writing because both were not considered appropriate for a ‘working prison’ (BIS 2011).

3. When prisoners are released after serving approximately half their sentence, they are still ‘on licence’ and can be re-called to prison to serve the remainder of their sentence (in full) for any breach of their licence conditions.

4. Being ‘nicked’ in prison refers to someone in authority placing a prisoner on a ‘Governor’s Report’, in which a prisoner has to answer to accusations made by a member of staff in a formal adjudication. The prisoner can appeal, but disciplinary measures are often imposed if upheld, which might have a serious impact on any possibilities for early release or category re-classification.

5. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is most commonly associated with children and teens, but it can continue into adulthood. People with this condition are likely to have low levels of concentration and unable to control their impulses.

6. A ‘tag board’ is a group of professionals that decide if a prisoner can be granted early release whilst wearing a ‘tag’, otherwise known as a ‘Home Detection Curfew’ (HDC).

7. A ‘key worker’ is a prisoner that is employed in a position of additional responsibility and is paid at a higher rate than most prisoners.