In France

in France, 3,011 adult detainees are in training and 2,571 minors, 1,717 of them are on distance learning courses and the budget allocated to this teaching in prison is 1,154,372€. In 2018, the FIED inter-university federation for distance learning) negotiated with the authorities to create a digital platform (NED). This is accessible to teachers as well as prisoners the aim being to enable the latter to access as wide a range of training as possible. Following this negotiation, a trial was arranged for prisoners to prepare for a university access diploma (DAEU). This cooperation was between University Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3 (humanities courses) and University de Franche Comté (scientific courses). The aim of this experiment was to develop a digital platform which would adapt to the particular conditions of teaching and training in prison. The very fact of giving courses in prison entails extra difficulties because the digital platform must be able to host a number of courses while offering high levels of security. This platform must also not be fitted with links to outside sites.

Complément

You can see a short report by a journalist who spent three days in a French prison (in the Limousin region) where she shows how a class is organised as well as interviews with inmates.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iddKPAr4RlI

L' école in prison: un pas vers la liberté - Hauts parleurs, published 15 January 2020

IDEFI-UM3D

The aim of the programme IDEFI - UM3D (Initiative d'Excellence en Formations Innovantes/ Initiative in Excellence and Innovative Training Courses) is “ to increase students' success rates in 1st year through 3 main themes: drawing up a university and professional project themes, diversification in order to respond to a variety of users, the difference with pedagogical approaches and renewed learning paces users.

With this in mind, the programme has supplied two guides to "university courses in a prison environment". These two booklets deal with best practice, usage tips and the steps to follow when doing this ckind of course.

You can find them here:

- Book 1

- Book 2

The aim is to facilitate university enrolment and also to allow anyone to follow the course of their choice wherever they find themselves, or their professional or family situation, physical condition (the supports chosen must be done so carefully) in order to finally increase the success of first year students.

Faced with an undeniable need, partnership agreements were signed between prisons and universities/CNED. The aim of these agreements was to offer distance training to prisoners (from DAEU to doctorate). The classes are uploaded by the local head of teaching and then shared with inmates who can download the university resources that are online. To set up the projects, university courses (in 1st year Licence/degree) already available as Distance Learning were used.

This solution raises a few problems to be taken into account:

- Lack of internet connection: How can prisoners follow courses as they were initially designed for the institutional platforms?

- Exchanges: How can an inmate communicate with a teacher??

- Management of the time/ the learning space in a prison environment is particular to each prison (Salane, 2010, Alidières, 2013): How can the structures be adapted to these idiosyncratic features, particular to each penitentiary?

The aim of the University Paul-Valéry de Montpellier IDEFI programme is to increase the pass rates for 1st year students.

You can find all the steps in the IDEFI programme on the website :

https://www.univ-montp3.fr/fr/formation-lp/idefi-um3d/le-programme-idefi-um3d

The "réussite en prison EAD"(distance learning success in prison) programme, Île de France

This is a tutored, distance programme on offer from University Paris Ouest Nanterre. Former students from the university act as tutors and visit students behind bars six times a year (each tutor has a student assigned to him or her). A reference teacher makes three visits a year to inmates. At Fleury a system was put in place for the 2013-2014 academic year. The Ile de France regional council awarded a series of grants of about two hundred euros to inmates following a teaching programme in prison as well as paying their enrolment fees.

39 students passed their exams out of the 44 who sat them. The URP in de Lille and the University of Artois also tried to improve the help given to such students and also tried to ease the teachers' burden. So, in 2015, a collaborative administrative platform was created. Two administrators were in charge of it which saved valuable time in correcting work done by prisoners and getting it back to them. This initiative registered a 20% rate for abandoned studies but 50% validated the course.