The ‘RENYO – Re-engaging young offenders with education and learning’ project, in which Fundación Diagrama participates as a partner organisation, aims to is to enhance educators’ capability to re-engage young people in conflict with the law with education and learning whilst in secure custodial settings in 4 European countries (the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Spain).

This involves training education staff in the ‘Authentic Inquiry’ methodology as an intervention, thus enriching their repertoire in terms of learning design.

What’s Authentic Inquiry about?

University of Gloucestershire lecturer Tristan Middleton has produced a video giving a brief introduction to the RENYO project and the Authentic Inquiry methodology based on choosing a topic of interest for the learner and the production of a final product or artefact with educational value.

Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7F3FUfGLXN0

Training educators working with young people in conflict with the law

In the final months of 2020, our partners have been delivering further training to educators from a variety of settings, focusing on the RENYO methodology and their ability to use Authentic Inquiry with the young people in conflict with the law with whom they work. In Sicily, for example, over 40 educators from communities for minors attended the online training with CESIE, who reported interesting exchanges on the challenges faced in engaging young offenders with learning.

Some of the education staff that has been trained undertook their own Authentic Inquiries and shared information about these experiences with the project’s team. This information is useful for understanding how to adapt the Authentic Inquiry methodology to local contexts and, particularly, how to implement it with young people. The educators produced very diverse artefacts including training material for children, poetry, videos, artistic labs, diaries and even the organization of a fashion show. Here is an example from Sicily:

Authentic Inquiries of young people in conflict with the law

The upcoming focus of the project will be the Authentic Inquiries of young people in secure settings, which is a key element. The process of undertaking this journey with the young people will enable project partners to collect valuable data that will provide us with a greater understanding of the effectiveness of Authentic Inquiry in this context. In turn, the use of the Learning Power Platform will enable educators to talk to the young people about their learning and help them identify their strengths, as well as the areas for them to work on during the process of Authentic Inquiry.

The Learning Power Platform enables the development of awareness, ownership, and responsibility for our learning journeys. The eight dimensions of Learning Power are holistic personal qualities which combine thinking, feeling, and action.

In the UK

The initial group of young people in the UK have completed their Authentic Inquiries and have therefore been producing their own artefacts, as exemplified below:

In Italy

A number of young people have already completed their Authentic Inquiries, producing very positive results. In fact, an educator has shared that after the experience,

“(the young person) was more curious than before; he asked many questions […]. His ability to focus and his interest have improved as well, even if in the first meeting he seemed less engaged.”

In Germany

The first insights about Authentic Inquiry were presented at the Dies Academicus, University of Applied Sciences Dresden. Research projects were presented and discussed amongst professionals and students from the entire university, including the value of the RENYO project for social education research.

In Spain

The RENYO project staff is working closely with two Spanish juvenile detention centres. Members of the educational staff from these centres have already been trained and will guide young people with their own Authentic Inquiries in the coming days.

RENYO at the policy-making level

The University of Gloucestershire team has recently provided a response to an inquiry launched by the Education Committee (UK Government) in relation to prison education. The aim of the inquiry is to find out whether those held in secure settings are receiving a suitable education, and how they can ensure education within the prison system delivers the skills needed by employers.

Within their response, the team from Gloucestershire covered topics such as ‘the purpose of education in penal institutions’, ‘how successful participation can be incentivised in penal institutions’ and ‘how well additional learning needs are met by prisons and juvenile detention centres’. The Authentic Inquiry method utilised in RENYO was referenced, with the authors suggesting the purpose of education in prison must not just play the role of transmitting knowledge and skills, but also have a more transformative effect.

Coming next

Partners will conclude their piloting sessions with young people on Authentic Inquiry and use all the data, feedback and case studies collected to produce the RENYO Research Report.

Visit the project’s Facebook page or website to find out more.