Features
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Benefits
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Accreditation |
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Gives qualifications which can be used in job applications and demonstrates constructive use of time spent in prison.
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Literacy |
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Reading plays, discussing their content, understanding complex vocabulary and learning lines enhances levels of literacy. Improvising scenes about different people and different contexts encourages the use of a variety of language registers.
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Working with Outside Agencies |
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Prisoners are given quality time and attention. Meeting and working with people from outside the prison enables prisoners to focus on their potential in terms of what they could do once released from prison for example go on to undertake further education and training.
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Self Confidence |
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Taking risks in workshops and performing for an audience teaches participants to trust their ideas and abilities. The confidence gained in drama applies to career and life.
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Self Esteem |
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Praise and success leads to the enhancement of a sense of self and self-worth. The raising of self-esteem can lead to a raising of expectations and the possibility of setting goals related to pro-social activities.
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Imagination |
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Making creative choices, thinking of new ideas and interpreting familiar material in new ways are essential to drama.
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Cooperation/Collaboration Team Building and Working with Others
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Theatre combines the creative ideas and abilities of its participants. This cooperative process includes discussing, negotiating, rehearsing and performing.
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Taking Responsibility for Oneself and One’s Actions |
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Taking part in plays involves commitment and not letting other people down.
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Encouragement of Pro-social Behaviour |
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Prisoners are encouraged to work constructively as part of a team and to contribute fully to a normative activity with a positive outcome.
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Concentration |
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Playing, practising and performing develop a sustained focus of mind, body and voice which all help in life.
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Communication Skills and Body Language |
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Drama enhances verbal and non-verbal expressions of ideas. It improves voice projection, articulation of words, fluency with language and persuasive speech. Listening and observation skills develop through dramatic exercises, rehearsing, performing and being an audience. Drama also helps to interpret and understand body language.
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Ability to receive and give Feedback |
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Prisoners are enabled to receive praise and constructive criticism and to give the same to their peers.
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Problem Solving |
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Participants learn how to communicate who, what, where and why to an audience. Improvisation fosters quick thinking solutions which lead to greater adaptability in life.
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Intellectual Achievement |
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Engagement with drama and theatre work provides intellectual challenges which can develop understanding of self and the complexities of life and society.
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Fun |
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Drama brings play, humour and laughter which in turn improves motivation and reduces stress.
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Emotional Outlet |
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Drama games and engagement with fictional contexts allows participants to express a range of emotions. Aggression and tension are released in a safe and controlled environment, reducing anti-social behaviour.
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Relaxation |
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Many drama activities reduce stress by releasing mental, physical and emotional tension.
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The process of moving from ideas, to actions, to performances teaches the values of practice and perseverance. Drama games and exercises improve self control.
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Physical Fitness |
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Movement in drama improves flexibility, coordination, balance and control.
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Memory |
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Rehearsing and performing lines, movements and cues strengthen this skill like a muscle.
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Social Awareness |
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Legends, myths, poems, stories and plays used in drama teach participants about social issues and conflicts from culture, past and present from all over the world.
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Empathy |
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Acting roles from different situations, time periods and cultures promotes compassion and tolerance for others’ feelings and viewpoints.
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Aesthetic Appreciation |
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Participating in and viewing theatre raise appreciation for the art form.
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Achievement |
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The successful completion of a challenging project will give prisoners a sense of great satisfaction.
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Praise and Validation |
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Performing to an audience and receiving validation through applause and positive feedback enhancing self-esteem and confidence.
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Skills Base and Morale |
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The transferable skills acquired during drama and theatre work provide a better skills base for future employment and a raising of morale which will strengthen determination to succeed upon release from prison.
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Attitudinal Change/Combating Recidivism |
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If some or all of the above make a difference and an impact on a prisoner, it is possible that they will consider alternatives to crime upon release.
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Features
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Benefits
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Accreditation for prisoners taking part in Drama/Theatre projects |
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All prisoners will receive OCN accreditation on work delivered through ‘Playing for Time Theatre’ projects. Entry level up to level 3 will be covered.
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Key Skills |
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Many of these can be delivered through Arts’ projects.
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Key Performance Indicators |
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Many of these can be achieved through the delivery of Arts’ projects.
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A Positive Experience of Education |
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Many prisoners have low levels of qualifications and skills and negative experience of formal education. Arts’ projects can re-engage prisoners and help them to receive qualifications.
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Engagement of prisoners in purposeful activities |
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Prisoners are engaged in demanding and challenging activities through undertaking Arts’ activities. Time in prison is used constructively to gain qualifications and to benefit from transferable skills.
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Transferable Skills |
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Prisoners gain valuable transferable skills. (See Features and Benefits sheet for Prisoners.)
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Prisoners can be easier to manage by staff |
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An increase in self confidence, self esteem and better communication skills which Arts’ projects foster can make prisoners easier for staff to work with.
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Attitudinal Change - Staff |
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Seeing prisoners take part in performances and achieving a high standard of work can demonstrate to staff that they have talent and potential and this can then be encouraged in positive ways.
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Developing a Sense of Community |
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Prisoners taking part in projects can feel part of a group and community.
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Focusing on the Re-Settlement Agenda |
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Prisoners may be more employable and more able to undertake further education courses and seek qualifications after completion of Arts’ projects.
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Development of Regimes focussed on Rehabilitation |
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Arts’ projects can help to redefine the role and practice of prisons by facilitating a different way of working with prisoners with all the benefits and transferable skills that are gained through working within the arts.
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Combating Recidivism |
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A positive experience of working in an area not experienced before can open up areas of thinking about a future not associated with crime and criminal behaviour.
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Work with Outside Agencies |
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Working with outside agencies can benefit prisons in terms of the expertise and input these agencies can contribute. |
Features |
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Benefits
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Engagement in work in Community Contexts |
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Students gain from seeing how drama can be used as processes of intervention in community contexts. They are enabled to understand how work in the arts is educational, therapeutic and rehabilitative as well as recreational.
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Mentoring Roles |
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Students work with prisoners as mentors and develop skills in supporting prisoners in aspects of self-presentation and performance.
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Instilling the Values of Volunteering |
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Students are encouraged to contribute their time and expertise in supporting the work of prisoners.
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Meeting People from Different Social Backgrounds/Diversity |
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Students meet people from different socio-economic backgrounds to themselves and in doing so, learn about social and economic deprivation as well as other factors that lead people into patterns of offending behaviour.
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Stimulation of Understanding, Empathy and Attitudinal Changes |
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Working with and getting to know people that they might not otherwise encounter promotes understanding, empathy and consequent attitudinal changes.
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Challenges Myths and Stereotypes concerning Crime and Punishment |
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Talking to prisoners and seeing the way the prison system operates enables students to make up their own minds about received views of the criminal justice system which different elements of the media promote.
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Social Justice |
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Students are enabled to consider the social and economic factors which contribute to inequality in our society and relate these to the lives of people they meet in prisons.
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Maturation |
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As students’ knowledge and understanding of challenging contexts develops they will mature intellectually. Insights into life experiences which are different to their own will enable the development of intellectual and emotional understanding.
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Collective Effort for the Public Good and Social Responsibility |
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Students gain a genuine sense of achievement with the successful creation of work that has come about as part of a collaboration between diverse groupings of people. They will be fully aware of the difference that undertaking this work will make to those involved.
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Creativity |
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Students involved in Arts’ projects in secure institutions will be enabled to use problem solving skills, their imaginations, flexibility and lateral thinking to contribute to the successful conclusion of projects.
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Development of confidence, self esteem and responsibility |
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Students are encouraged to take active roles in facilitating workshop activities and directing scenes. This experience builds their confidence and group-work skills.
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Work With Theatre Professionals |
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The opportunity to work with theatre professionals will give students insight into the creative industries and experience of professional practices.
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Enhanced Employability |
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Students will find the opportunity to undertake arts’ work in prisons enables them to consider further work in community arts contexts, the creative industries and further work within the criminal justice system. |
Features |
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Benefits
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Education for Citizenship |
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Students are encouraged to take an active role in society by taking part in Arts’ projects in secure institutions.
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A Learning Experience |
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The experience of working in community contexts goes beyond the conventional learning experience embedded in day to day curriculum activities.
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Engagement in Community Service |
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The University is able to demonstrate commitment to active involvement with communities through the contribution its students make to working in secure institutions.
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Encourages Volunteering |
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Volunteering is part of the Institution’s agenda and the projects allow students to contribute their time and expertise in supporting prisoners’ work.
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Vocational Training |
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Students are given the opportunity to develop work related skills.
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Preparation for Professional Life |
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Students gain invaluable skills which can be taken forward into a potential career in related areas of Arts and Community work.
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Widening Participation |
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The University is providing an experience of education for prisoners which can lead to prisoners deciding to undertake work in Higher Education upon release.
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Diversity and Inclusion |
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A commitment to work with marginalised groups sends out signals that The University is committed to diversity and inclusion.
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Social Justice and Responsibility |
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By working in secure institutions students are encouraged to reflect upon the role of the criminal justice system in society and to consider the social and economic circumstances of those whose lives are blighted by involvement in crime and the experience of prison.
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Dissemination of work |
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Best practice in community collaboration shared with other HE institutions and Arts’ organisations. |
