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The Education in Prison SIG warmly invites you to our first 黑料网911 event!

 We’ll explore what it means to enable education for people affected by imprisonment, drawing on the expertise of two excellent speakers.

 We’ll hear from Dr. Marianne Doherty about the Ulster Prison Project, a prison–university partnership based in HMP Magilligan, Northern Ireland. Situated within a society still shaped by the legacy of the Troubles, the presentation examines how inclusive and collaborative pedagogies can enable dialogue across profoundly deep-rooted social and political boundaries.

 Our second presentation explores the intersection between gender identities and the educational journeys of adult men leaving prison. Dr. Angelique Mulholland draws on her PhD study and forthcoming article to elucidate educational trajectories and the role of subjectivity, power, violence and redemption in the lives of the men. She creates a nuanced theoretical frame in which she paints a picture of gender performances on the educational margins.  

 Both sessions include time for questions and discussion.

 Please join us for a warm and lively discussion, and find out more about the work that enthuses our SIG!

Programme

Dialogue and Reconciliation in Post-Conflict Northern Ireland through Prison Education

The Ulster Prison Project is a cross-faculty and cross-campus prison-university partnership based in HMP Magilligan, Northern Ireland, which brings together prison learners and undergraduate law students within a shared higher education classroom. Situated within the particular context of a post-conflict society, this paper examines the role of prison education in creating opportunities for meaningful participation, dialogue and learning across deeply rooted social, political and cultural divides.

Drawing on the development and delivery of the Ulster Prison Project over a period of three years, the paper considers the pedagogical principles that underpin the programme, with particular attention to collaborative and dialogic approaches to learning. It explores how the creation of a shared educational space can challenge traditional distinctions between those learning inside and outside prison, while fostering belonging and mutual respect. It also considers the ways in which tribalism is addressed through dialogue. Central to this approach is the creation of an environment in which students learn both with and from one another, bringing different forms of knowledge into the prison classroom.

The paper also considers the wider significance of prison education within a society shaped by conflict and division. It argues that access to higher education in prison should be understood not only as a mechanism for widening participation, but also as a means of supporting personal and educational growth, encouraging dialogue and strengthening social connection. The paper ultimately highlights the potential of prison-university partnerships to contribute to broader commitments to reconciliation, social justice and inclusive higher education in post-conflict contexts.

The intersection between education and gender in the lives of adult male prison leavers

Drawing from the speaker’s PhD thesis, this presentation examines the intersection between gender identities and the educational histories of adult male prison leavers.  Although the study of masculinities within the gendered institution of prison is an emerging field, and prisoners’ educational pasts and present-day capabilities are the subject of recent policy debates, the intersection between the two areas is under-researched. The study explores the role of subjectivity, power, violence and redemption in prison leavers’ lived experiences and educational trajectories, including in schooling, prison and the community. Narratives reveal complex gender subjectivities both challenged and maintained in educational spaces, highlighting how learners with unmet needs connected with learning differences and disabilities, move further away from education and are more at risk of re-offending. The narratives also reveal that other participants were able re-engage with education later on in life and occupy and perform an alternative masculine positioning. As part of their journey of reengagement with education, they critically assess and reflect on their poor experiences of schooling, and this enables them to better support their children’s education and potentially disrupt intergenerational patterns of offending. Focusing on engagement, pedagogy, desistance and intersectional aspects of identity, the research explores the factors that shape participation in education before, during and after imprisonment.