Transformative learning through university and prison partnerships: reflections from ‘Learning Together’ pedagogical practice

Gray, Natalie, Ward, Jennifer ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3018-2859 and Fogarty, Jenny (2019) Transformative learning through university and prison partnerships: reflections from ‘Learning Together’ pedagogical practice. Journal of Prison Education and Reentry, 6 (1) . pp. 7-24. ISSN 2387-2306 [Article] (doi:10.25771/jbrt-q510)

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Abstract

This paper critically discusses two London-based “Learning Together” prison university partnerships—Middlesex University with Her Majesty’s Prison (HMP) Wandsworth and London South Bank University (LSBU) with HMP Pentonville. The paper documents how students experienced the shared classroom learning approach designed on principles of “transformative pedagogy”, and how students interpret their personal development and the knowledge and skills gained as a result. We share the steps taken to bring the learning together pedagogical philosophy to life and use evidence from module evaluation findings and critical reflections to demonstrate the transformations that happen. We interpret our findings through the lens of a transformative ripples model. In addition to exploring personal transformation, the wider transformations that occur within the public institutions at the centre of these collaborations—the prisons and the universities —are discussed. We argue that for prison and university partnerships to be truly effective, they must embed transformative pedagogic practices at their heart, ensuring the “how”we teach is as important, and deliberately considered, as the “what” we teach.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: Volume 6, Number 1 (2019-2020) Special Issue 2019: Critical reflections on Higher Education in Prison
Research Areas: A. > School of Law > Criminology and Sociology
Item ID: 24293
Notes on copyright: Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
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Depositing User: Jenni Ward
Date Deposited: 05 Aug 2019 14:11
Last Modified: 24 Mar 2021 09:44
URI: https://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/id/eprint/24293

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