To recruit and train a team of volunteer basic skills tutors to teach
offenders on 1:1 basis.
The students range from 15 to 21 years and volunteers make a
commitment for two hours each week for a year.
Summary of SOVA Feltham Research Project
The SOVA project aims to reach prisoners who have poor basic skills
and are unable to access Feltham�s other educational provision. In the
year 1999 � 2000, 126 students were matched with tutors and 60
certificates in basic literacy or numeracy were rewarded.
Three part-time paid staff support up to forty volunteer tutors with
supervision, meetings and workshops. Students were offered two hours of
tuition a week. Funding for the scheme is not secure from one year to
the next and comes from charitable sources outside the prison. The
prison provides accommodation, including the associated costs of funding
the scheme.
Two volunteers, Maxine Danker and Alison Kerr designed and carried
out research to evaluate the scheme using student perspectives and
worked together with Pip Deverson (Project Manager). Danker and Kerr
have experience in the fields of social/educational research and
psychology. The report Young Offenders learn basic skills one to one was
published in 2001.
Extracts from this report include the following comments from
students at Feltham:
1. Learning experience at school
Almost a third (32%) of students in the sample of fifty students had
received no schooling after the age of 11, rising to 62% by the age of
13. At 16 years only 8% were still at school.
�I was embarrassed at reading and writing so I stopped
going�If I was in class and didn�t understand, I would storm out.�
�The teacher ridiculed me.�
�I couldn�t keep up with the rest of the class so I
mucked around.�
2. Learning basic skills at SOVA
Most of the students (92%) said their work at SOVA was going well. Of
these, 90% gave one-to-one tutoring as a reason for their learning going
well. Other factors were the rapport they had with their tutor, their
own motivation and interesting sessions.
�I read three pages of a book for the first time.�
�My mum, dad and sister are so happy that I can read.�
3. Personal Development through SOVA
The students were asked whether SOVA had helped them with other
aspects of personal development. 80% said that their perceptions of
themselves and what they could achieve had changed for the better.
�I don�t think I�m dumb anymore�.
�They listen to you and don�t treat you like a
criminal�.
4. The future
When asked if they thought that their SOVA learning could help them
get a job, 50% said possibly, 40% said definitely and only 10% said no.
�If I had the confidence I do now three years ago, I
wouldn�t be in this place. A lot of it is down to SOVA.�
With the current, integrated approach to the management of juvenile
offenders, and increasing interaction between voluntary and statutory
agencies, SOVA�s role at Feltham is evolving.
What can be said with certainty is that SOVA students feel that their
learning needs are being well met.
