Vocation, vocation

Abstract

This article addresses the education of women in prison in relation to an emerging area of research and policy concern: vocational training. Using interviews with women prisoners in Victoria, it investigates why inmate women participate in education programmes, what education programmes the women would like to see implemented and what barriers exist in terms of women’s participation in education. Demonstrating the disparity between stated government aims for inmate women’s education and training and the motivations of the women themselves, the authors argue that prisoner education for women ought to be conceptualized in relation to a range of factors and not merely conceived of as a path to employment.