Working with young offenders

An important new course on improving provision for young offenders and their families. This training is for people working in arts and cultural heritage organisations, including museums, galleries, libraries and archives.

The course sets the background in terms of who young offenders are and the kinds of experiences they will have had. Using case studies, it then explores good practice in meeting young offenders’ needs and identifies practical ways to develop effective provision.

It is run jointly by Anne Harding and John Vincent. John is the Networker for The Network and an independent trainer, consultant and lecturer specialising in social exclusion.

Key learning outcomes:

  • awareness of the background to offending, the experiences that young offenders and their families may have had
  • understanding of the criminal justice system as it affects young people
  • understanding the role that cultural heritage organisations can play, for example in motivating learning, supporting literacy, assisting in finding and using information
  • sharing good practice, and building on that to develop personal and organisational action plans

What people say about this course

It was a really interesting day and has given me a new insight into how we can help young offenders. I was interested in the sort of projects Art Galleries and Museums can provide to enhance the lives of young offenders.

Very useful course. Thank you for a productive atmosphere and encouraging discussion. It was great to have participants from YOIs to ask about things. A very thorough course and a nice way to spend the day.

This has been a most enlightening course which has significantly opened my eyes to the various problems and solutions involved. I feel confident that as a result I will be able to convince the museum to make a contribution to the young offenders question.

Plenty of opportunity to join in and good ideas put forward. It made me more aware of the role the library can play in helping the young offender.

Very knowledgeable trainers - answered queries, listened. Thought-provoking. Not too structured - flexible and interesting. Useful handouts - good, clear, researched information.

Really useful day in terms of the mix of participants and being able to talk to people who work in Youth Offending Institutions. It was also useful looking at case studies of projects and being able to talk to the course leaders about the experience they’ve had. The packs we were given were also very useful.

Really enjoyed info and brainstorming exercises on who young offenders are and barriers/benefits/partnership working. Good to hear others’ experiences and examples of projects.