12 Summary of Session 1

In this session, you have explored the transformation of the prison in the late 1700s and early 1800s and you have looked at how and why schemes to educate prisoners began to appear in prisons across the UK from c.1800.

You should now:

• be able to outline the development of the prison from dungeon and lock-up to purpose-built penitentiary
• have a sense of the wider political and social events and ideas which framed the rise of the prison and prison education
• be aware of the types of sources historians use to gain a sense of what happened in the past.

Nowadays it is widely recognised that learning is a social activity, that rather than simply receiving wisdom from teachers, we build knowledge together. You might also see learning as framed by the built environment, the culture of the wider society, the calibre of the teachers and the resources as well as the enthusiasm, skills and motivation of the learner.

In the next few sessions there will be opportunities to learn about life in prisons, the spread of prison education and where and how the teaching and learning took place. And you will have a chance to consider for yourself some of the sources used by historians, including the personal testimony of prisoners.

You can now go to Session 2 [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] .