Danish below  

Three in four in the prison environment call for more training 

A significant need for additional training has emerged among members of the Prison Officers’ Union in Denmark. This essential need for training has come to light as a result of the extensive survey created for the CoVE-project, PROMOTE – Promoting Integrated Professional Development for Prison Practitioners in Vocational Excellence for Offender Reintegration, whereas the union has received more than 400 answers, distributed among prison officers, foremen, uniformed leader, transport officer and institutional employees. 

When asked to elaborate on the matter, one comment read: “I have not been on a course in over 20 years.” 

Another one wrote: “I’ve had one course in the last 12 years. It was one and a half hours of first aid.” 

A total of 77 percent of survey respondents stated that their training falls short of meeting their professional needs, with one in four reporting they receive no ongoing education whatsoever. 

Another thing that is worth mentioning is the lack of interest in e-learning. Online courses often need to be completed during work hours, making it challenging to stay focused. As a result, many are calling on the Prison and Probation Service to provide in-person courses instead. One noted: “It’s almost impossible to attend a face-to-face course where you have the opportunity to get in-depth content, ask questions, discuss, spar with colleagues and trainers.” 

The two most preferred themes to receive additional training in are ‘Inmate safety and handling’ and ‘Health and mental health’, while the need for ‘Digital skills’ and ‘Legislation and procedures’ are lower. This shows that inmates have mental diagnoses and behavioral challenges that prison offices must address. This creates a need for training in psychology and pedagogy to better understand and handle these issues. 

The results indicate the overall issue of the lack of training within the prison environment and can also relate to another EU-project, M4Pris – Peer Mentoring Programme for Prison Staff, where the Danish Prison Officers’ Union plays a role as an important partner to BrainLog as the project coordinator together with the European project partners from Romania, Portugal, Belgium and Greece. M4Pris focuses on mentoring programs within the prison sector, whereas topics such as health and mental health also are important factors, more specifically the well-being of the prison staff. 

Both PROMOTE and M4Pris handle the issue of needs within ongoing education or the lack of continuous educations and necessary up-skilling training among prison officers in Europe, aiming at policy reforms on European and national level.  

Tre ud af fire i fængselsmiljøet efterlyser mere uddannelse 

Der er opstået et betydeligt behov for yderligere uddannelse blandt medlemmer af Fængselsforbundet i Danmark. Dette væsentlige behov for uddannelse er kommet frem som et resultat af den omfattende undersøgelse, der er lavet for CoVE-projektet, PROMOTE – Promoting Integrated Professional Development for Prison Practitioners in Vocational Excellence for Offender Reintegration, hvor forbundet har modtaget mere end 400 svar, fordelt på fængselsbetjente, værkførere, uniformerede ledere, transportbetjente og institutionsmedarbejdere. 

Da de blev bedt om at uddybe sagen, lød en kommentar: “Jeg har ikke været på kursus i over 20 år.” 

En anden skrev: “Jeg har været på ét kursus i de sidste 12 år. Det var halvanden times førstehjælp.” 

I alt 77 procent af de adspurgte i undersøgelsen sagde, at deres uddannelse ikke lever op til deres professionelle behov, og hver fjerde svarede, at de ikke får nogen form for efteruddannelse. 

En anden ting, der er værd at nævne, er den manglende interesse for e-læring. Onlinekurser skal ofte gennemføres i arbejdstiden, hvilket gør det udfordrende at holde fokus. Derfor opfordrer mange Kriminalforsorgen til at tilbyde personlige kurser i stedet. En bemærkede det: “Det er næsten umuligt at deltage i et fysisk kursus, hvor man har mulighed for at gå i dybden med indholdet, stille spørgsmål, diskutere og sparre med kolleger og undervisere.” 

De to mest foretrukne temaer for yderligere uddannelse er ‘Sikkerhed og håndtering af indsatte’ og ‘Sundhed og mental sundhed’, mens behovet for ‘Digitale færdigheder’ og ‘Lovgivning og procedurer’ er lavere. Det viser, at de indsatte har psykiske diagnoser og adfærdsmæssige udfordringer, som fængslerne skal tage hånd om. Det skaber et behov for uddannelse i psykologi og pædagogik for bedre at kunne forstå og håndtere disse problemer. 

Resultaterne peger på det overordnede problem med manglende uddannelse i fængselsmiljøet og kan også relateres til et andet EU-projekt, M4Pris – Peer Mentoring Programme for Prison Staff, hvor Dansk Fængselsforbundet spiller en rolle som en vigtig partner for BrainLog som projektkoordinator sammen med de europæiske projektpartnere fra Rumænien, Portugal, Belgien og Grækenland. M4Pris fokuserer på mentorprogrammer inden for fængselssektoren, hvor emner som sundhed og mental sundhed også er vigtige faktorer, mere specifikt fængselspersonalets trivsel. 

Både PROMOTE og M4Pris håndterer spørgsmålet om behov for løbende uddannelse eller mangel på løbende uddannelse og nødvendig opkvalificering blandt fængselsbetjente i Europa med henblik på politiske reformer på europæisk og nationalt niveau.