Change Management in the Context of Prison Education
Introduction
Change is inevitable in every organisation because variables define organisational structures, processes and relationships. However, not every person is comfortable with change because of the implications this may have on the level of control and comfort that people may have in an existing status quo. In instances where people loose control or become uncomfortable with change, resistance emerges. Resistance to change refers to the steps taken by individuals when they perceive a potential or actual change as a threat to them, their environment and an existing system. There are two important elements to resistance to change. One is perception and the other is threat. This means that the threat foreseen by individuals and groups either objectively or subjectively exists but from the point of view of individuals and groups actually present. ( 2006)
In these instances, it is incumbent upon managers to address the perceived threats to individuals and groups within the organisation achieve the benefits of change. However, an important prelude prior to the implementation of change management strategies is management’s understanding of change in the context of the organisation, the nature and extent of resistance to change, the techniques of implementing change, and other considerations in successfully effecting change to meet the change objectives of the organisation ( 2004).
Prison Education
According to the (2006), around 36,000 or half of the 72,000 prisoners in the area of England and Wales experience serious problems with reading, 57,600 or four-fifths have serious problems with writing. Research shows that lack of education is not the only factor influencing criminality since the number shows that other factors such as social environment and poverty have caused people in prison not to learn how to read and write but education have been recognised as highly influential in the rehabilitation of prisoners. This is because education is an important form of empowerment tool, which would make it easier for released prisoners to integrate into society and obtain gainful employment to become contributing members of the community.
The recognition of the importance of education among prisoners has become public policy in Britain. Prison and probation services incorporate prison education as service offerings. Through these services, people released from prison and those meted with community service are given and are able to have access to education and skills training. Providing education and training to prisoners and people with probationary status constitutes change in their perspectives, beliefs and actions. Due to this change and the expected corresponding resistance to change, there is need to provide sufficient support to prisoners and people under probation, particularly with more serious problems in reading and writing for significant learning to occur. Common educational support accorded to prisoners and people under probation are family learning or reading and writing with the aid of visiting family members and peer support or appreciating and learning to read and write through group encouragement. (2006)
First public policy on prison education covers prison services. Education services to prisoners is sponsored by the (NOMS) (2006) under the Home Office that identifies the specific policies for implementation together with Learning and Skills Council that takes charge of planning and funding the post-16 education and higher education in England. Another partner is the Offenders’ Learning and Skills Service (OLASS) that manage contracts or agreements with education providers and monitor the delivery of education services directed towards providing prisoners with sufficient knowledge and skills they need to find jobs and play important roles as contributing members of society. OLASS also ensures that the learning and skills provided to prisoners are consistent with the demands of the labour market.
Programs under the prison education service include Skills for Life focusing on adult literacy. This program mandates that prisoners should go through a basic screening test as they enter the prison system and when they become integrated into society they should have received basic learning in life and social skills, information technology, and other basic skills. All prisons in England and Wales are mandated to establish a prison education system. Another program addresses the education needs of young offenders managed by the Youth Justice Board. Youth Offending Teams tasked to assess the status of young offenders and identify programmes that address their needs are established as support systems for custodial and community based young offenders. (2006)
In 2003, the government added £110 million to the funds for prison education in order to boost technological innovation in order to develop an accurate and updated database of prisoner records to facilitate continuity in learning and skills training and identify the type of education given to certain categories of prisoners. Additional funding is imperative since the government has targeted that at the least ninety percent of prisoners should be able to obtain full-time education. ( 2006)
However, despite the efforts exerted by the government the number of repeat offenders is still significantly high. This means that despite undergoing learning and training, many released prisoners still go back to crime and when apprehended are brought back into the prison system. This indicates that there is a problem in the current prison education system since it does not sufficiently address learning objectives expected from the programme.
Research conducted by the (2002) showed that imprisonment is not sufficient to deter repeat or new offences. Many people released from prison go back to prison within a period of two years for other crimes. Even if there is a prison education system in place, this still does not prevent released prisoners from going back to crime. According to the (2006), interviews with prisoners to obtain their perspectives on prison education resulted to the common opinion that learning opportunities are not always accessible to prisoners in practice even if this is provided by public policy. The reason for this is the lack of after-education support provided to prisoners released from prison. Despite undergoing learning for basic skills such as learning and writing, not all prisoners are able to obtain learning of a degree that would fully support their employment and integration into mainstream society. They also have trouble in finding employment due to lack of relevant experience as well as social and financial support when they are still in the process of seeking employment. In the case of young offenders, a study conducted by the (2006) found out that forty-five percent of young people involved in drugs, alcohol and other substance abuse, also had criminal records. This means that prison education also have to address this issue in the prison education programme for young offenders.
Apart from these challenges to the current prison education system, an assessment of the teaching and learning curriculum of the Skills for Life programme focused on adult literacy showed that even if teachers working in the prison environment are placed in a different learning context, the content and techniques used in the learning process are not inappropriate. This finding implies the need to improve the curriculum to match the prison context. (2006)
Second public policy on prison education covers probation education services covered also by the National Offender Management Service together with the National Probation Service (NPS). NPS covers around 200,000 offenders meted with community service and people who have already been released from prison but obliged to meet conditions provided in court orders as well as their release licenses. The education probation programme has also undergone assessment. ( 2006)
Recommendations included basic infrastructure needs for the programme such as the initial screening of offenders to determine their learning and skills level, diagnostic evaluation of offenders prior to community service, referral of offenders to skills provision, and monitoring of attendance to learning and skills trainings. Other recommendations showed issues arising on the part of tutors having different expectations than the actual situations they face in teaching people under probation or there may be some levels of cultural barriers. ( 2006)These recommendations imply that the existing probation education system lacks basic systems for programme implementation.
Apart from these recommendations, the (2003) has also recognized that people getting into the probation system have other problems apart from lack of education such as lack of housing services, mental health problems, alcoholism, and drug abuse. These compounding problems mean that tutors and other education probation staff have to become aware of these other problems and incorporate learning and skills into the programme that not only improves the level of educational attainment of people under probation but also helps them obtain the mental and emotional skills to deal with their other problems.
At present, efforts have been made to expand the number of probation staff with awareness of the various issues experienced by people under probation. The staff is expected to facilitate the education as well as to provide encouragement to people under probation to taka advantage of opportunities for the improvement of their knowledge and skills. Apart from this, partnerships with the Learning and Skills Council and communities are being developed in order to gain optimum support in meeting the probation education goals. ( 2006)
Thus, there are many changes planned and currently implemented for both prison and probationary education programmes. This aspect of change involves the dynamics of different variables and parties. Variables include the socio-demographic differences between prisoners and imprisonment status of different prisoners such as the length of imprisonment and their relationship with prison staff and other prisoners while the parties include prisoners, prison staff, teachers and tutors, government and private bodies, and the community. This implies the need for a strong management utilising appropriate change management strategies in order to integrate and direct the different variables and parties towards the desired change.
Change Management in Prison Education
Change is a system that provides for the interaction of external and internal factors in all levels of the organization from the individual to various working groups to the organization as a whole and the factors outside of the organization that influence or stimulate change. Change is both a cause and an effect. It is a cause because it creates a momentum for other changes to occur and it is an effect because it is caused by certain stimuli. ( 2003) Thus, change is a complex activity requiring the appropriate change management strategies and techniques if the goal for stimulating change is to be achieved.
In the case of prison and probation education, several problems requiring change have been identified. In the case of teachers, tutors and other staff members problems covers the content and techniques used in the learning process as well as perspectives and attitudes towards the prison situations and prisoners. With regard to the content and techniques used to deliver the lessons, internal factors involves the perception of education staff on the learning needs of prisoners based on their experiences with other educational environments while external factors refers to the curriculum developed by private and government bodies specifically for prison education. In relation to attitudes and perspectives towards the prison environment and prisoners, internal aspects refers to the personal experiences or lack of experience in the prison environment while external aspects refer to the ideas of prisoners and the prison environment that education staff learn from other people and the media. These considerations prove useful in creating an environment for change because it is through the dynamics of different perspectives, information and experiences that the need for change arises. Management plays the necessary role of determining the factors needed to effect change and those that influence resistance to change.
Change management refers to the process of creating a planned approach to implementing change in a business organization. Generally, the purpose of effecting change is to maximize the possible collective benefits for the people concerned in the change and to minimize the risks of failure in change implementation. Change management may be reactive or proactive. Reactive pertains to a management plan that responds to the changes in the macro-environment and the stimulus for change is external while proactive refers to a management plan covering changes that the business firm is implementing and the stimulus for change is internal. Change management may be implemented continuously, per schedule or according to necessity. ( 2003)
In the case of prison and probation education, change management involves both reactive and proactive change. There is reactive change because the teaching staff is affected by external forces particularly the policies imposed by government and fiscal allocation and budget management together with the contents of lessons and teaching techniques recommended by both government and private organisations advocating prison literacy. However, change management approach is also proactive because there is need for internal change. In the case of the educators, there is need for both structural and socio-cultural change among their ranks. Organisational change refers to the reshuffling of working teams so that educators with knowledge and experience on the aggregate problems faced by prisoners under the literacy programme are teamed-up with educators without experience of these issues. This is important in order to facilitate the transfer of knowledge on these issues from experienced educators to rookies in the prison education system. Socio-cultural change refers to the development of an objective expectation of the prison environment and prisoners as they gain first hand knowledge and experience teaching prisoners in the prison environment. Contextual information is necessary for teaching staff to become effective facilitators of the learning experience and advocates of the issues faced by prisoners and assist in achieving an effective rehabilitation process. Again, management plays an important role in linking needs and objectives with the change management plans.
Change management in the prison and probation education system should be continuous because the effects desired are long-term. Since the purpose of educating prisoners is the empowerment of released prisoners in finding employment and integrating into mainstream society, the education curriculum and the techniques innovated by staff themselves in cooperation with prisoners should correspondent with these long-term goals.
In implementing change, management plays an important role in the flow of the management plan. The primary consideration of management is to plan the stages of change implementation in a way that the parties affected by the change would consider the purpose of the change as bigger than the possible negative impact of the change so that they accede to change. The plan for change should include the dissemination of a comprehensive and transparent description of the change process to all concerned parties, the monitoring of the alignment of the change with organizational objectives, and employee support in the change process. ( 1999; 2004)
The change management plan for the prison and probation education system should be crafted in such a manner that the change being targeted is more important and valuable than the possible adverse effects this may have on the existing system and the organisation. This becomes more important in situations where there is strong resistance. In the prison education system, there is strong resistance to change because of various factors. One is the perceived interference from outside parties such as the government and the Learning and Skills Council especially when the changes being imposed are not seen as appropriate or viable in the actual prison context. Another cause for resistance is the level of control and comfort that the members of the education staff may have on the existing system so that there is hesitation to change the system due to the threat of loosing control. Still another factor explaining resistance is the non-recognition of the need for any change particularly in systems in place for long periods. However, regardless of the cause of resistance, strong resistance hampers the change process. The members of the staff handling prison education recognizing the need for change feel discontent in a stagnated system so that there is little incentive for staying. The result is a prison education organisation lacking in personnel and wallowing in inefficiencies. In this situation, management plays an even more important role in facilitating change by allowing the free flow of information and sharing of experiences resulting to the realization of the need for change.
Change Management Skills for Prison Education
Management for prison education may implement skills and strategies in effecting change in the prison education system. First skill covers the political aspect. The relevance of politics in organizational change is usually downplayed. Politics or the art of manipulating power to affect behaviour is not all bad. The political behaviour in the organization may have either a positive or a negative consequence and these consequences justify political behaviour. ( 1999) Political behaviour may be good or bad depending on the demands of the situation. In the case of prison education, management is tasked to balance conflicting interests in situations where the government and the Learning and Skills Council are forcing change to a hesitant prison education structure. Politics comes into play when the interest of one group is prioritised while allaying the negative reaction of parties with other interests or competing interests are balance. The need for change as expressed by external parties may be recognized but the aspects of change to be implemented will come from the members of the prison education staff since they have intimate knowledge of the areas needing change and the manner of effecting change.
Second skill involves analytical aspects ( 2004). This means that management should be able to present and implement change in a clear and rational manner so that its justifications becomes acceptable to all parties and minor complaints are easily addressed. Under the analytical aspect are two important skills. One is systems analysis or the rationalisation of workflow operations covering change implementation. The change management plan should be clear, organised and actionable in order to gain the understanding and cooperation of the parties involved in the change process. The other is financial analysis. This is also an important skill for management in effecting change since the plan for change cannot be implemented without resource allocation.
Third skill covers the people management aspect (. 1999; 2002; 2002). This is important since change is achieved only through the action and reaction that members of organisation have towards a change stimulant. The most important people skill in effecting change is interpersonal or communication skills because it is through this that management is able to draw the cooperation of the people involved making or allowing change to happen.
Fourth skill involves the technological system aspect ( 2004). This skill requires management to take advantage of information and communications technology and other information technology applications to facilitate the flow of information in monitoring and evaluating the implementation of change.
Fifth skill covers the business aspect ( 2004). Even if prison education is covered by public policy, it still has business aspects. Management should be aware of how prison education operates from funding to the development of the curriculum to the hiring of the members of the education staff up to accountability and auditing to be in control of the change process.
Conclusion
Change is an inevitable occurrence in all dynamic organizations. Change is a complex activity requiring the appropriate change management strategies and techniques if the goal of stimulating change is to be achieved. In change management, the primary change agent is management or the people leading the organisation. This is because it is management that is charged with the responsibility to create an environment for change so that the parties involved recognize its need voluntarily and cooperate in the change process. In the case of prison education, management is charged with creating a culture of change through by enhancing the information and experience of prison educators so they can have an appreciation of the needs and techniques for prison education.
References
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