As leading prison education provider Novus marks its 30th anniversary, Managing Director Peter Cox reflects on three decades of delivering programmes to hard-to-reach learners – and looks forward to another 30 years of innovationOver the last three decades, the prison education sector has changed beyond recognition. What started out as a low-key provision run by the former HM Prison Service under contracts managed by the Home Office has radically evolved. Today, the sector draws on dedicated specialist providers from further education to deliver evidence-based programmes which equip prisoners with the skills they need to find stable employment upon release.While the Novus name didn’t come into existence until 2015, its journey began some 30 years ago. In a move to support the communities it served, the former City College Manchester (which has since become part of The Manchester College) took the strategic decision to focus on prison education, building upon its work at HMP Manchester (or, as it was known at the time, Strangeways). It was a model that worked effectively, with the up-to-date pedagogical practices and skills of the College teaching staff breathing new life into classes for prisoners. It was around this time that I joined the College, initially as a HR officer before coming to specialise in the prison education in the years that followed.Since then, the model has gradually expanded nationwide. Today we deliver education from Northumberland to London and many points in between, most recently into Wales through our partnerships with Coleg Cambria and Gower College. In 2015, Novus was created as a dedicated business unit with a specialism in prison education and a real understanding of the complex challenges faced by our learners. We have never strayed from our roots in further education, however, and the following year became part of the LTE Group family.Today the Group spans technical education, apprenticeships, professional training and higher education. This means that we benefit from having a talented team of Novus colleagues who are steeped in prison education and with masses of experience and knowledge of what it’s like to teach in this most challenging of contexts, but they also have the opportunity to share knowledge and experience with teachers in mainstream education.Independent scrutiny, improving standardsJust has Novus has evolved, so has prison education as a whole. Back in the 1990s the sector was often regarded as a service that marked its own homework with no external scrutiny. Since then it has been transformed, initially coming under the oversight of the Department for Education before more recently moving under the auspices of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). In what can only be a positive, this journey has placed the sector under robust external scrutiny, initially from the Adult Learning Inspectorate until it became part of Ofsted in 2007.This close monitoring has placed greater emphasis on quality of provision and ensuring that offenders can access high-quality programmes of education which meet their needs. Last year alone, five establishments where Novus operates received were graded ‘good’ for their overall effectiveness in terms of education provision; our quality team are continuing to work with colleagues across Novus to ensure that more prison teams receive the same accolade this year.A focus on reducing reoffendingOver the last three decades, we have seen significant change across prisons. The overall population has more than doubled from 42,000 to 88,000; privately-operated prisons have been introduced; and, most positively, there has been an increased focus on standards and the impact of education on reducing reoffending. This focus on reoffending is one that has, in part, been driven by changing public attitudes towards justice. Last year, Novus conducted independent polling which found that 60% of voters agreed that educating prisoners and developing their skills was a good way to u...

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