PRISON EDUCATION IN POLAND: SPECIFICS AND CHALLENGES

Journal Title: Problems of Education in the 21st Century - Year 2017, Vol 75, Issue 2

Abstract

The problems presented in the text refer to the education of convicts in Poland. It has been based on current Polish legal regulations, statistical data and specialist literature. The problems which refer to the education of convicts in Poland are regulated by the Act of 6th June 1997, the Executive Penal Code, the Act on the Education System and executive acts to the above-mentioned regulations. The current situation in the labour market requires people to acquire education and to improve their qualifications. People without education, who are excluded from the access to professional development and in-service training, find themselves in an extremely difficult situation. The lack of qualification and vocational skills usually leads to exclusion from the labour market. People who serve their sentences in prisons find themselves in a particularly difficult situation, because their lack of education may push them back into crime. A very positive tendency that may be observed in Poland is a growing demand for prison education. Convicts may acquire knowledge and raise their qualifications at various levels and in various fields. They may follow the curricula at the level of a primary or secondary school; they may pass their Matura certificate and, after the consent of relevant authorities, they can continue their education at the university level. Convicts may also learn a new profession, change their professional qualifications or acquire new additional skills during specialist courses. The qualifications acquired in this way shall meet current demand in the labour market, and convicts may find employment after they leave prisons. Education allows them to improve their self-esteem and self-reliance, to catch up with any deficiencies and to work on their self-discipline. At the same time, education offers opportunities to expand knowledge, to return to the society and to the labour market. It is important for convicts to obtain opportunities for education, since such a chance comes as a significant factor of their social re-adaptation. Considering social values, it is important to foster the pursuit for education among convicts. A lot of prisoners still do not want to learn, and this fact may result from their previous school failures, the sense of embarrassment caused by their knowledge deficiencies, the lack of interest and faith in their own potential. The material for the text has been collected on the basis of the method of theoretical analysis, and it includes available statistical data, legal regulations and literature which refers to the discussed problems. The article aims at the presentation of prison education, how it is organised in Poland and what advantages it presents for both: convicts and the society. The text also presents programmes of prison education which are implemented by correctional staff in prisons.

Authors and Affiliations

Daria Becker-Pestka

Keywords

Related Articles

EFFECTIVENESS OF TEACHING METHODS USED IN HIGHER EDUCATION: A CASE STUDY OF EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY OF MADRID, SPAIN

The purpose of this research was to determine the effectiveness of various teaching methods used in higher education and the perception of the students regarding these methods. In order to determine the possible ways to...

CLOSENESS OF FIT TO THE IDEAL: CLASSIFICATION AND SIMILARITY OF TEACHERS’ REFLECTIONS USING MULTI-DIMENSIONAL SCALING

The objectives of this research are to provide the theoretical basis for the analysis of qualitative data, such as teachers' responses to reflective questions using quantitative methods such as multidimensional scaling....

SITUATED LEARNING AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: A CASE STUDY OF APPLYING COGNITIVE APPRENTICESHIP AND COMMUNITY OF PRACTICES IN A KINDERGARTEN

The purpose of this study is to implement and evaluate a teacher training program based on the framework of situated learning. Adapting from the situated learning approaches, the author implemented two in-service teacher...

COLLECTIVE ACTION AND COLLECTIVE SCHEME IN THE MOBILIZATION OF LEARNING CHEMISTRY ACCORDING TO VERGNAUD’S THEORY OF CONCEPTUAL FIELDS

This research’s aim was to analyze the mobilization in learning chemistry promoted by the collective action of three entrant students in higher education courses, in a college located in Santo André. For such, cognitive...

INTEGRATING VISUALIZATIONS IN SCIENCE TEACHING: TEACHERS’ DIFFICULTIES AND PEDAGOGICAL APPROACHES

This study is a qualitative research where it tries to finding out and analyze the teacher’s pedagogical approaches and difficulties to introduce visualizations in science classroom. The use of visualizations in classro...

Download PDF file
  • EP ID EP433527
  • DOI -
  • Views 106
  • Downloads 0

How To Cite

Daria Becker-Pestka (2017). PRISON EDUCATION IN POLAND: SPECIFICS AND CHALLENGES. Problems of Education in the 21st Century, 75(2), 123-135. https://europub.co.uk/articles/-A-433527