The quality of provision in young offender institutions (YOIs) was once again under the spotlight this autumn after two reports identified serious shortcomings.
A joint review by Ofsted and HM Inspectorate of Prisons published in October found both the quality and quantity of education in YOIs had declined over the past decade.
The report, which drew on inspection findings, surveys of young offenders and comments from YOI leaders and education providers, paints a bleak picture.
“Many of the children in these institutions are extremely vulnerable. They are in urgent need of high-quality education,” wrote chief inspector of education, children’s services and skills Sir Martyn Oliver. “The system has already failed them and continues to do so at this most urgent and critical point in their life.”
The report raises serious concerns about children’s access to education and the fact many spend long periods locked in their cells. In one setting, some children only had half an hour out of their cell each day.
A separate report by HM Inspectorate of Prisons also published in October looked at the separation of children in YOIs and found many continue to be subject to solitary confinement.
Surveys of young people in YOIs from 2023/24 found nearly two thirds reported that being kept locked up and prevented from mixing with other young people was used as a punishment.
“Our inspections have found violence and disorder are major issues in all YOIs holding children,” says the report. “In the absence of effective, motivational behaviour management schemes, the response to this conflict is to separate children.”
In most instances children deemed to be a risk to others were separated but some chose to “self-separate”, usually because they were too scared to come out of their cells.
“We were very concerned to find that these children, who were victims of bullying and violence, were often separated for long periods of time,” says the report.
The report shows not much progress has been made since a review of separation in YOIs undertaken four years ago, which made 10 recommendations.
Chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor described the findings as “depressing” and said it was not acceptable for children to be separated in this way due to the lasting negative impact on their health, behaviour and learning.
Time in isolation
The joint review of education made a series of recommendations for youth custody leaders, managers, staff and education providers, including the need to significantly reduce the amount of time children are kept in isolation or locked up (see box).
This review looked at provision in the four YOIs in England that accommodate children in custody aged 15 to 18.
These are Cookham Wood in Kent, Feltham A in London, Werrington in Staffordshire and Wetherby and Keppel Unit in Yorkshire.
At their most recent inspections, one of the four – Wetherby and Keppel Unit – was graded “requires improvement” by Ofsted for overall effectiveness under the education inspection framework while the other three were rated “inadequate”.
None of the four have been rated “good” under the framework, which was introduced in custodial settings in 2020.
Children in YOIs are supposed to receive at least 15 hours of education per week while official information on some settings suggests they provide the equivalent of a full-time education.
The reality is that children often have access to far fewer hours of education. Recent inspections have found many children only receive 10 to 13 hours of education per week. If they are particularly vulnerable and cannot join mainstream classes then their time in education may be significantly reduced.
Staff shortages are a key factor. “The shortfalls in hours have often been caused by a lack of staff in the education provision and in the YOI as a whole,” says the report. “Many lessons have been cancelled because there is either no teacher, or no officer to escort children to their lessons.”
The report found lessons are often curtailed or interrupted because leaders and managers have prioritised other activities such as attending reviews or exercise time.
“Being significantly late for lessons has become the norm,” says the report. “Children are escorted to their classes up to an hour and half late and finish early because officers arrive to collect them before the scheduled end of lessons.”
The report found that when allocating children to courses, YOI staff are not focusing closely enough on children’s needs including career goals.
“Instead, over the last decade, a culture has developed whereby YOI leaders use allocation processes as a way of managing problems with violence and conflict,” says the report.
“Staff almost always allocate children to courses based mainly on which other offenders they can mix with and which they need to be kept apart from.” This should only be done in “exceptional circumstances”, the report adds.
Behaviour management
Another key issue is a lack of effective strategies to manage behaviour. The report found behaviour issues can be made worse by enrolling children on courses they are not interested in, meaning they are not motivated to pay attention or do the work and they don’t show appropriate respect for teachers.
The report found behaviour management strategies rely too heavily on keeping children apart from one another or excluding children from classes.
Meanwhile, teachers often lack training and support to deal appropriately with challenging behaviour although this was not always the case.
Inspections included in the review which took place before 2017 found teachers had good knowledge of how to manage behavioural issues and used “reflection rooms” and “cool-down periods” to help children swiftly return to class.
The report highlights problems in recruiting enough teaching staff especially specialist staff to cover core subjects like English and maths.
“Children rightly express frustration at these issues,” says the report. “They feel disappointed they cannot study the mathematics and English qualifications they need to improve their lives. Children also become despondent and demotivated when courses get cancelled part way into their studies because staff leave and there is no replacement.”
Overall the report found leaders and managers from YOIs and education providers have not worked together well enough to prevent the decline in education at all four institutions.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR YOUTH CUSTODY LEADERS, MANAGERS, STAFF AND EDUCATION PROVIDERS
- Significantly reduce the amount of time children are kept in isolation or locked up.
- Focus on resolving conflict between children wherever possible to reduce the number kept apart for safety reasons.
- Implement appropriate behaviour management strategies to help children improve their behaviour and ensure teachers have up-to-date training on managing challenging behaviour.
- Prioritise children’s education and attendance at education.
- Improve the curriculum so it supports children to develop employability skills and strengthen links with employers to help children develop vocational skills.
- Help children who cannot attend education, especially those with special educational needs and disabilities, to make as much progress as their peers.
- Improve reading strategies to ensure all children significantly improve their reading skills.
- Improve the quality of education by focusing on teaching the knowledge, skills and behaviours children need, using assessment effectively and ensuring children complete their learning goals.
- Recruit appropriately qualified and competent teaching staff and provide high-quality classrooms and resources.
- Ensure better collaboration between YOI leaders and education providers.
Source: A decade of declining quality of education in young offender institutions: the systemic shortcomings that fail children, HM Inspectorate of Prisons, October 2024
INSPECTION SHORTS
EDUCATION Ofsted has published materials it uses to train inspectors as part of a commitment to transparency. Six video recordings of training for school inspectors have been released covering topics including setting off on the right foot, inspecting attendance and inspecting in the best interests of children. Further recordings of training given to inspectors working in other areas Ofsted regulates will be published in the near future.
SOCIAL CARE Children in residential special schools are more likely to report feeling unsafe compared with those living in other types of setting, shows a survey completed by nearly 7,000 children and young people. Ofsted’s annual social care questionnaire found the majority of children who took part, including many looked-after children, were positive about the place where they live or stay. However, 8% of children in residential special schools said they “sometimes” or “never” felt safe, up from 7% last year and 5% in 2022.
EARLY YEARS Ofsted has begun accepting applications for a new category of childcare designed to give the early years sector more flexibility. Providers now have the option to register as childminders without domestic premises, meaning they can work entirely from somewhere other than home, such as a village hall. The total number of people who can work together under a childminder’s registration has increased from three to four.
YOUTH JUSTICE Cumberland Youth Justice Service has received an overall rating of “requires improvement” following an inspection by HM Inspectorate of Probation. This was the first inspection of the service in the wake of a major local government reorganisation, which saw Cumberland become a unitary authority in April 2023. Inspectors praised leaders’ commitment and awareness of where improvements were needed but found partnership arrangements were inconsistent with limited provision in areas such as health.
HEALTH The Care Quality Commission has highlighted the damaging impact of delays in health and mental health treatment for children and young people in its annual report on the state of health services in England. More than 360,000 children aged 0 to 17 were on a waiting list for consultant-led paediatric healthcare as of June 2024, with more than 140,000 having waited more than 18 weeks. An analysis of inspection reports found not all children were being seen quickly in an emergency with shortages of children’s nurses and gaps in staff training increasing the risk of life-threatening conditions like sepsis being missed or not treated fast enough.
