Novus responds to Ofsted report on prison education sectors post-pandemic recovery

Earlier this week Ofsted published a report into how the prison education sector was recovering following the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Over the course of 41 progress monitoring visits Ofsted looked at the progress that prison leaders and managers were making to reinstate the full education, skills and work curriculum, following the severe curtailment of activities during the pandemic. 

Overall, Ofsted found that progress in reinstating access to education programmes was slow with prison leaders remaining cautious about allowing prisoners to participate in education, skills and work. 

Responding to the report, Novus Managing Director Peter Cox commented: “We welcome the focus on the challenges facing prison education in Ofsted’s report. The Covid-19 pandemic has caused massive disruption to education in prisons. Necessary action to keep prisoners safe during the pandemic severely limited providers’ access to prisoners and the learning opportunities available to them. 

“We are working closely with prison governors to increase access to education and training, and are keen to use our expertise in supporting hard-to-reach learners to improve prisoners’ prospects of finding sustainable employment upon release.”

You can find a copy of the report in full here.