Prison Education
In 2006 we published Wings of Learning: the role of the prison officer in supporting prisoner education by Julia Braggins and Jenny Talbot.
Previous research has shown that prisoners involved in education value support and encouragement from officers on the wings. The study was aimed at discovering how officers viewed prison education, what support they could offer, and how it might best be given in the future.
Twelve prisons in England and Wales were visited, and small group interviews were carried out with a total of 77 prison officers. A widely representative Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Richard Tilt, assisted the researchers to produce a report with policy recommendations, published by the Centre in November 2005.
Forewords to the report are by Sir Richard Tilt (former Director General of the Prison Service), Colin Moses (National Chairman, Prison Officers Association) and Phil Wheatley (current Director General of the Prison Service).
Copies have been sent to every prison in England and Wales; multiple copies are still available. Please email
Following the publication of Wings of Learning we are currently working with the National Centre for Social Research to evaluation the government's pilot test bed projects for offender learning. For more information contact our research director, Roger Grimshaw,