More than half of prisoners have the reading age of a child
(Picture: PA Wire)Prisons are failing to teach inmates to read which leaves them more likely to reoffend, a damning Ofsted report has warned.
More than half of prisoners have the reading age of a child, but they are not being taught to read while serving their sentences, which is a “huge missed opportunity”, inspectors said.
Prisoners with low literacy levels cannot read letters from family, legal correspondence or menus while in prison, and cannot take part in rehabilitative education, making their time in prison even more challenging and unproductive, the report said.
They then struggle to navigate life after prison, and filling out forms, applying for bank accounts, jobs or training becomes “impossible.”
The joint report by Ofsted and HMI Prisons said: “This may make it less likely that they will get into work and more likely that they will reoffend.”
Charlie Taylor, HMI Prisons Chief Inspector, said: “At a cost to the taxpayer of around £45,000 a year, it is astonishing that prisoners can serve their sentence without being taught to read or improve their reading skills.”
He added: “The failure to teach prisoners to read or to extend the literacy of poor readers is a huge missed opportunity. It means many prisoners do not get the benefits of reading while in prison. And it means that many will fail to learn the essential skills that will help them to resettle, get work and make a success of their lives when they are released.”
Inspectors said there is too much focus on enrolling prisoners onto courses aimed at getting qualifications, even though half of the prisoners could not read well enough to take part.
Many teachers simply do not know how to teach adults to read, inspectors said, and prisoners with the greatest need receive the least support. It is often down to enthusiastic staff members or voluntary organisations to provide reading lessons, they said.
Ofsted and HMI Prisons urged governors to get prisoners reading for “pleasure, purpose and rehabilitation,” and for reading lessons to be a distinct part of the prison education programme.
Amanda Spielman, Ofsted Chief Inspector, said: “This research shines a light on the reading education that prisoners are getting, or in most cases, the lack of it. There are some serious systemic challenges, as well as plenty of poor practice.”
Ofsted and the prison service launched a year-long review of education in prisons after becoming concerned about the large number of prisoners unable to read.
Matthew Coffey, chief operating officer of Ofsted told MPs on the education committee last year that education in prisons is in a “parlous state”, with teachers often left in empty classrooms because prisoners have not been escorted to their lessons. He said he had never known a prison held accountable for poor education performance.
Over the past five years, about 60 per cent of prisons have been graded inadequate or requires improvement for education, skills and work by Ofsted.
This compares with just 20 per cent of other further education organisations inspected by the body.
