Novus international roundtable: sharing insights and ideas
Adult Provision Digital Novus Works Partner Vocational

On Wednesday 5th June, Novus brought together a range of stakeholders from different countries and employers to share perspectives, insights and expertise in delivering high-quality prison education, learning and employability services.
The roundtable featured participants from the USA, Norway, Wales, Northern Ireland and England, who explored similarities and differences between the delivery systems in place, and discussed ways of fostering future international cooperation with the aim of ultimately improving services for the future of our learners.
Attendees at the hybrid event included representatives from HMPPS Wales and Northern Ireland prisons, as well as employers Kier, Balfour Beatty and Greene King, charity The Right Course and Manchester Metropolitan University’s Policy Evaluation and Research Unit. Attendees from Norway Prison Service and US university Virgina Tech offered insights into the different approaches in place in their own systems.
Colleagues from education and industry can see the world through different lenses and it’s important to understand both perspectives to impact future outcomes. There are different drivers and impacts on learners in custody, but it’s important that whatever we are doing, our delivery positively impacts on the future lives of learners, communities, and their families.
How does employment and employability support prison leavers?
Getting prison leavers into sustainable employment is one of the best way to reduce reoffending. But how do we create the optimal conditions for people to develop employability skills? From both an education and employer perspective, it was agreed that the approach taken would ideally be an individual, candidate-led model. Relationships between employers and individual prisons are also key, allow staff to get buy-in for their initiatives and supporting learners with the time to develop key skills that are needed by employers.
Training kitchens have been an incredibly successful way to give real life experience in an authentic kitchen experience, getting prison learners used to working. Both Greene King and The Right Course have worked with prisons and local education teams to develop training kitchens and the outcomes have been impressive - but can dependent on the flexibility offered within prisons. One learning, participants agreed, would be to make this pathway to employment smoother.
This experience was mirrored in the construction sector, where training in prison is becoming a rapidly-developing route to employment. One way to overcome some of the restrictions in setting up training environments that require large scale machinery in prisons was via digital methods, which was covered in depth in the discussions.
All employers attending highlighted the benefits of employing prison leavers and said how important it was for them to be an inclusive employer, with Greene King highlighting that having managers who are advocates for prison leavers has been an important element in the success of their programme. Kier backed this up; prison leavers applying for jobs are treated like any other candidates. Being a Ban the Box employer has enabled the company to open up opportunities to a wider range of individuals.
Employers are now more willing to employ prison leavers, which is a big change in recent years. Recently, Novus surveyed members of the public on their views on working with ex-offenders. Four out of five respondents said they would feel comfortable working with an ex-offender, while 59% said they viewed companies who employ ex-offenders favourably.
The importance of wraparound care to reduce reoffending
The biggest issue highlighted across all employers and regional areas was the need for wraparound support for prison leavers. Release on Temporary License (ROTL) is an effective means of getting people settled into the role that they will be doing on release, but a real collaborative approach to make sure prison leavers have somewhere to live and access and understanding of digital skills to exist in today’s digital society is vital for success.
In Norway, wraparound support is very important; it ensures that 80% of prison leavers don't reoffend or return to prison. Work placements are well supported, and regular follow-ups take place to offer ongoing support to newly-released individuals. Research undertaken by Manchester Metropolitan University also backs this perspective up.
The Welsh approach, the event heard, is based around enabling prisoners to secure employment on release, but also offering support in meeting individuals’ other needs, such as housing. Jobs in the community may exist, but the challenge for practitioners is offering a full rehabilitation package with a multi-disciplinary approach in place in order to avoid prison leavers being homeless on release.
Northern Ireland has also increased its focus on what delivering the skills wanted by employers, while also increasing the level of through-the-gate support available after release. Having introduced Jobsfairs, colleagues from Northern Ireland were starting to show greater success with employers delivering occupational masterclasses inside Prisons – this imparts the skills employers needs but also directly connects their learners to potential employers.
How does the Norwegian prison education model work and what can we learn from it?
Following on from hearing about how the Norwegian model is set up to successfully reduce reoffending, we dived deeper into this with a presentation from Paal Breivik, a senior advisor within the Norwegian prison system.
He explained how a real focus on parity of education across custodial and non-custodial education provision, which is enshrined in law, has made a difference to the number of people taking part in education. He shared a quote from a former prison director, which underpins the Norwegian philosophy: “Everybody in Norwegian prisons will be released, but who do we want as our future neighbour?”
In what is known as the ‘import model’, the same teachers work in both local schools and prisons, where the curriculum on offer is the same for learners in prison as in the community. Norway has around eight teachers for every 100 prison students. Norway’s prisons used to be full to capacity, but occupancy currently stands at approximately 80%, with over 40% of inmates attending education classes.
However, despite all the successes, he highlighted that there were still issues with getting the system to work, such as course finish and exam dates not always taking place before an inmate leaves. Ensuring access to digital platforms can also be a challenge for providers.
How higher education can positively influence the US prison system
We also heard from Sylvester Gardner from Virginia Tech about a pilot humanities course that has been running in a high-security correctional facility with 10 students. Sylvester and his team visited Novus education departments in the UK and found that there was a lot that they could learn to develop more comprehensive approaches to deliver education in Virginia.
The American system is very different to those within Europe but, by working with a specific IT supplier to run the course, the Virgina Tech developed a curriculum that had a real and instant impact. The team is looking to develop this and learn more in coming months and years.
Digital education in prison: why is it needed and what is happening?
Many of the conversations at the roundtable focused on the importance of digital skills. Novus recently launched its first digital strategy, building on the work carried out in recent years. Following the launch, the Novus digital team have created bespoke site plans for each establishment, including training for staff, depending on the tech available and the needs of that establishment.
One tool that has made a real impact on digital teaching in prisons is Open Borders, which allows access to safe websites in the classroom, alongside offering simulations for programmes that can’t be accessed, such as email. As demand for Essential Digital Skills Qualifications is so high, Novus is now bringing digital skills into all our classes, from vocational subjects to maths and English, Open Borders has been instrumental in this process.
Novus has also been using AI, with a system called TeacherMatic. This has allowed teachers to access generators for lesson planning, multi-choice questions, interactive quizzes etc. It helps to create resources for individual learners (which is vital with the wide range of abilities and neurodiverse needs in prison classrooms), giving teachers the opportunity to create resources more quickly and get better resources, with more time to develop really strong lesson plans.
We have also been testing VR in a prison environment. Employers in particular were keen to ensure learners can gain experience of working in simulated real-life work environments, with plenty of areas for future cooperation identified by the participants.
One prison that is setting the agenda on digital education is HMP Hatfield, which offers access to a digital suite for those about to leave prison. Everyone was interested in finding out more about this developing project as it progresses.
In Wales, Tenstar machines have been used to simulate real-life skills, such as teaching forklift truck driving at HMP Berwyn and now rolled out across the Welsh Estate. However, it was acknowledged that even in areas that are driving ahead with digital, prison environments are still behind mainstream education in terms of digital capacity due to the challenges of security and funding.
While Norwegian law states that learners in prison should have access to the same provision available in the community, Paal outlined some of the practical challenges in trying to achieve this. Overall, participants acknowledged that digital skills are key for employment and employability and that, by working together as educators and employers, we can make a real difference.
Thank you to everyone who attended, we are looking forward to holding more discussions and developing opportunities for sharing best practice in the future.