Education United Kingdom Project #14813

Coding skills for young ex-offenders

by Generating Genius

Project Report | Jun 19, 2017
coding skills for young offenders

By Tony Sewell | Coding skills for ex-offenders

This is our final report on our young ex-offenders being supported by Coding.

We have over 200 students who have gone through our prpgramme. We now think that the best way forward is to feed our students into quality apprenticeship programmes. So we have now developed a proposal that we will put to sponsors to see if we can develop an apprenticeship pilot for young people at risk of offending.

Coding skills has become the new literacy. The programme has given students who are disadvantaged because of their records are real chance to re-integrate. It has given us the opportunity to develop a curricilum that combines life skills and academic knowledge. It also bridges the route into the new workplace, where there is a high demand for tech skills.

I. Background

The Behavioural Insights Team and Generating Genius are seeking funding for a collaborative research project, which aims to stimulate engagement with technical education and apprenticeships in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) areas. In particular, the research would focus on exploring the factors that influence transitions between academic and technical options. We think that the introduction of Government reforms to develop new Technical Routes and raise the quality and quantity of apprenticeships, presents a timely point to encourage high-calibre students to consider this career path. From a behavioural perspective, having students with a strong academic record opt to take up apprenticeships in prestigious firms, over academic alternatives, will help establish new norms and contribute to parity of esteem between apprenticeships and academic qualifications.

¨ Generating Genius is a charity who focus on supporting talented young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to realise their potential in STEM. They deliver a rolling four year programme to support students from the summer of year 10 to the end of their compulsory education, which offers various activities to support academic performance and inspire students to pursue careers in STEM. The charity is well-connected with a range of prestigious organisations, including Google, Rolls-Royce and L’Oreal, through which they facilitate access to work placements and apprenticeships.

¨ The Behavioural Insights Team (BIT)is a world-leading consulting firm whose mission is to help organisations apply behavioural insights in support of social purpose goals. At the heart of our approach is rigorous testing and trialling that enables us to know which intervention is most effective. We have experience in supporting government priorities to bolster demand for Technical Education and growing perceptions of prestige around apprenticeships.

II. The challenge

The Sainsbury Review, published in 2016, set out a series of recommendations to reform the Technical Education system in England. It is anticipated that the reforms will mark a shift towards a small number of clear, streamlined ‘Routes’ with standards set by employers to take young people from age 16 into skilled occupations. Aside from the difficulty of navigating the system, we know from qualitative research with young people and parents[1] that a barrier to uptake of technical options is the view that these close down future options. As one of the key components of the new routes will be a greater ability to transition from academia to technical routes and vice versa, we are keen to explore the implicit and explicit cues that might drive this decision and how young people might respond to this new flexibility.

In parallel to these reforms, the government have committed to creating 3 million new apprenticeship opportunities by 2020, and are introducing a wider series of reforms to the apprenticeship system to support delivery of this target. The changes include the introduction of an apprenticeship levy for large employers, which shifts the financial incentives with the aim to drive up the supply of apprenticeship positions. This is accompanied by the launch of employer-led trailblazers to drive up the quality and standards of apprenticeships. Such changes, however, are only meaningful if matched by learner interest in pursuing an apprenticeship. Evidence however suggests that apprenticeships are not as instinctively appealing to young people as alternative options. A survey of young people revealed that only 17% felt that doing an apprenticeship was the most useful way to start a career, and 7% were planning to pursue this route. We believe that apprenticeships need to be rebranded, and that if talented young people - who have the option to go to university - began to select apprenticeships as a preferred route to gain technical expertise in STEM subjects, it would help to address the imbalance in perceptions of worth around academic and technical choices.

To date Generating Genius have primarily focused on encouraging young people to apply to STEM subjects at university, however their partnerships with various prestigious organisations reveals demand for work-based options from both students and employers. We would therefore like to partner on a research project to explore young people’s decision making around academic vs. technical options, and pilot interventions to drive parity of esteem between the two paths.

III. Proposal

In partnership with Generating Genius, BIT would deliver rigorous research that follows our T.E.S.T (Target, Explore, Solution, Trial) approach to develop and test interventions that encourage young people to consider STEM apprenticeships. We propose conducting longitudinal research over 2 years, with the cohort of 200 students (50 per year group) engaged in the Generating Genius programme. These students meet the selection criteria of being eligible for . free school meals or vulnerable to an offending culture ...

We suggest conducting qualitative research to understand more about academic vs. technical preferences across demographic groups and stage in education. We would then develop pilot interventions that explore whether linking technical options to well-known organisational brands helps encourage students at the higher end of the attainment spectrum to be open to these options. As part of this work we will also pilot ways to make STEM career opportunities attractive to under-represented groups, such as. ex-offender, girls and ethnic minorities.

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Mar 21, 2017
Coding skills for young offenders

By Tony Sewell | Project Leader

This report comes out of the work that we have so far achieved with the coding project. We have sent this to the Youth Justice Board, to see if they will now scale up our work. We want to stress the aspect of poor academic achievement and how a coding can help.

INNOVATION FUND

The Rationale:

According to the recent Haringey local authority Cabinet document: ‘Scrutiny Review: Disproportionately within the Youth Justice system.’

The simple fact of the review is that some groups of young people (particularly males of African Caribbean background) are considerably more likely to get into trouble than others. Haringey is an ideal test case for black disproportionately given the data on education and Crime. The report give seven recommendations:

1, Interventions need to be earlier in the lives of young people

2 Too many interventions that are not Joined-up

3 Schools exclusions

4 Poor academic achievement by African Caribbean children

5 Family fragmentation within African Caribbean community

6 Mental health

7 Policing

The report is an excellent summary of the problem there are few imaginative solutions. We need to pick up the following isues:

‘Do we need community sentencing remedies targeted specifically towards black children so that sentencers have effective non-custodial remedies which they are more likely to use. Would this be legal?

- are there behavioural differences (eg. cultural) which lead to unconscious bias? Are white children more savvy at how to manipulate the system in their favour?

- Is diversion work not picking up black children as effectively as white children. Given that the reduction in custody numbers seems to have been greater for white children over recent years there may be something in this.’ Colin Allers

Our Innovation fund recognises that there exists a range of good practice. Too often this resides in silos or not given a strategic focus. In reality there needs to be some leadership in this space. The Arts and Sports are critical areas in supporting the complex problems that beset some black youth in the borough. Utilised strategically the arts and sports can meet the multi-level needs of many of our young people. We need to get going with this intervention, so below is a proposed pilot, which is ready to go.

An example of a possible programme that could be funded:

The Last Mile (TLM) was created to provide programs that result in successful reentry and reduce recidivism. We believe that jobs are the key to breaking the cycle of incarceration. Our mission is to provide marketable skills that lead to employment. Our in an out program provides career training in prison with mentorship and job placement upon release.

TLM began as an intensive 6-month entrepreneurship program at San Quentin, in which men learned how to tap into their passion to create a business that includes a technology component and social cause. At Demo Day in front of 350 invited guests from the business community and fellow inmates, they pitch their ideas. Many say it’s the best day of their life.

Through the process, they learn how businesses function, how to work with a team, accept criticism, gain confidence in their ability to grasp new ideas, and pivot when they are heading down the wrong path. With the help of volunteers, guest speakers, and leaders from the business community, they are introduced to the latest technology without access to the internet or hands on experience.

In 2014, TLM launched the first computer coding curriculum in a United States prison (Code.7370), in partnership with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) and CalPIA. The men learn HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and Python. In addition to these front end skills, the curriculum will expand to include web and logo design, data visualization and UX/UI.

Since Internet access is not allowed in prison, programs are taught without connectivity. To overcome this challenge we created a proprietary programming platform that simulates a live coding experience. Imagine, software engineers who are judged by the quality of the code they develop, not by the stigma of criminality.

It is predicted that there will be a shortfall of 1 million software engineering jobs in 2020. The TLM “returned graduates” will be positioned well to leverage this opportunity and support our mission to reduce recidivism by attaining gainful employment.

So the Code 4000 idea is simple. They want to build a similarly successful programme in the UK to those already operating in the US and elsewhere. Starting with a pilot of sixteen prisoners at HMP Humber, they want to build a network of coding workshops in UK prisons, with the aim of giving people a second chance, turning their lives around, and training them in a skills set which has a high demand in the UK (and global) jobs market. - See more at: http://www.techcityuk.com/blog/2016/11/teaching-programming-prisoners/#sthash.Go4cJtZ8.dpuf

Support us in setting up the new innovation fund for coding

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Dec 21, 2016
coding skills for young ex-offeders

By Tony Sewell | Project Leader

We have now come to our transition point in this exciting project, where we look to use the model for companies interested in employing a young person who has recently ended a senetence for a criminal offence. Statistically, these young people find it the hardest to get full-time emplpyment.

The range of non-custodial responses to juvenile offenders has been widened to include a police final warning, court-ordered reparation, parenting orders and action plan orders, where intensive rehabilitation programmes can be tailored to the needs of offenders. Over and above them flies a new statutory aim for all relevant professionals of preventing offending by children and young people.. A resurgent "what works" movement on both sides of the Atlantic has drawn attention to convincing evidence that certain types of rehabilitation can significantly reduce reoffending.

By analysing more than 400 controlled evaluations of work with young offenders, the American researcher Mark Lipsey found that even on average they achieved reductions in recidivism compared with "treatment as usual". More persuasively, there were certain categories that pointed to average reduction rates of 20% or more

The most promising programmes in community settings were those designed to improve personal and social skills and those that focused on changing behaviour. Services that combined a number of approaches were also noticeably effective.

When Lipsey narrowed the analysis to programmes for juveniles convicted of serious and violent crimes, he discovered that behaviour modification and inter-personal skills work scored average reductions in re-offending of as high as 40%.

We are now looking to a number of employers on out data base particularly young statrt-ups to take -on one ex-offender. The plan will be:

To build network of volunteers to share the load is the only approach likely to work. So we developed this further to build a supportive network around ex-offenders to provide not only coding, but also pastoral, support from a local youth charity we havw called these volunteers 'code-coaches', they work alongside a 'host business' with an entrepreneur who's the 'business owner': There is also support from the youth offending Team who will help with the social care

What will success look like:

Without going into too much detail, here are the elements of our approach:

Young person responds extremely well to being treated like a normal member of the team, with the same holiday allowance, relaxed working conditions and involvement with company social events. Trying not to be the ‘odd one out’ is a big motivator for young person to modify his behaviour
Despite a lack of education, learning to code from online resources isn't a big intellectual jump for our young people once all the other challenges are removed
Working with volunteer mentors is a massive motivator, especially knowing these people are giving their time for free and they'll return next week to review his progress
Mentors have build personal relationships with young people that extend beyond coding, and are able to share information about lifestyle and career paths
Having this apprenticeship prevents the young person reoffending.
The power of online connections (social media, email lists etc) has given Generating Genius quick access to a big support network that otherwise would have been difficult to reach
Having an experienced youth worker in the support network as a friend, rather than from a statutory body is a massive benefit.

The Challenges:

Signing up companies willing to take the low risk

Raising funding for social care support.

Getting the right tech support so that volunteer coders can contiubue their support on-line.

Plans to meet challenges:

1 Using existing networks we have already had strong interest from a number of small companies

2 Using Gobal Giving and other agenicies to raise funds

3 A number of tech companies have offered their support for free

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