Children's views of education in a Young Offenders Institution

This chapter draws on children’s views of education in a Young Offenders Institution (YOI) to explore education provision in the youth secure estate from their perspectives. It builds on research undertaken by the author in a YOI, findings from which have been previously published (Little, 2015) . The chapter highlights how listening to the experience of children in prison helps to understand how education provision could be improved to better achieve its objectives. Children themselves are a useful source of information about their previous educational experiences, the effectiveness (or otherwise) of current provision and which improvements should be considered. For some children, the most meaningful experiences of education and learning come from informal opportunities to engage with new subjects, ideas and practices.