NCJ Number
85131
Date Published
1981
Length
10 pages
Annotation
Only by coming to terms with the confusion/identity issue and by adjusting primary patterns of professional identity will correctional educators be able to deliver improved education programs designed to meet the learning needs of the targeted student population.
Abstract
All correctional educators share a common central mission: to interrupt nonsocial or antisocial or antisocial student behavior patterns and foster social or prosocial attitudes. It is this attitude-oriented dimension of correctional education, accomplished through indirect instruction, that makes correctional education unique. Any other approach to correctional education would falsely assume that the students already possess social attitudes such as responsibility, respect for others and the dignity of work, and an ability to establish life goals. An emphasis on traditional content-oriented goals for education is not appropriate for correctional education. The goal of correctional education is obscured, however, by a general lack of standards, primitive curricula, domination by security-oriented personnel, and superficial needs assessments and evaluation. Other difficulties include poor funding, role conflict within the institution, isolation from community resources, and architectural impediments to learning. Further, correctional educators have been too willing to accept the roles and philosophies set for educators in the field of public education while also adopting a posture of obedience toward correctional administrators. Correctional educators should accept the uniqueness of their professional identity and become pioneers in developing educational approaches appropriate for its student population. Historic highlights of the correctional education movement are outlined.