Supporting functional skills for prisoners using secure laptops in cell

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Coracle is delighted to have been awarded an Inclusive Innovation Grant from Innovate UK. The grant will allow us to further develop our in cell laptops technology to support learners in improving their basic numeracy and literacy and particularly those with learning difficulties and/or disabilities such as dyslexia and other neurodiversity needs.Prisoners represent some of the most digitally and educationally excluded people in the UK. Many prisoners did not engage in education when young. 61% of prison entrants have English literacy assessments at entry levels 1-3 (equivalent to primary school English). Poor literacy and numeracy are significant causes of reoffending. 41% of prisoner leavers reoffend within 12 months of release.This project will extend digital in-cell learning opportunities to the majority of the prison population where there is a clear and significant need to improve basic numeracy and literacy skills.We will do this by developing digital in-cell functional skills content for prisoners to use on the Coracle laptops including:* Interactive examples and exercises, gamification, animations and video based on prison life and prisoners' experience.* Incorporating digital neurodiversity and dyslexia support tools including text to speech, screen overlays, dark mode and display optimisation.* Developing digital diagnostic and analytic tools to assess user progressionJames Tweed, Founder and CEO of Coracle said"Improved functional skills and digital literacy is at the core of the UK Government's drive to modernise prisons and reduce reoffending as laid out in the December 2021 white paper.This project adds further exciting and necessary innovations to the technology that Coracle already provides to prisons. It will allow us to reach the largest part of the prison population; those who have the greatest educational needs in a way that no one has been able to do previously.It is hard to put a financial value on something as fundamental to prison leavers as improved digital, numeracy and literacy skills. The project will impact positively on life in prison but also on all aspects of life after prison including increasing prisoners' ability to re-integrate into society, improving their employment prospects, their ability to cope, their mental health and self-esteem and reducing their chances of re-offending."