Arts Education as Rehabilitation Activity - Essay Example

Arts education interpretation activity BY YOU YOUR SCHOOL INFO HERE HERE Arts education interpretation activity 0 Rationale and project framework Prisoner rehabilitation is one of the primary goals of reformatory authorities, including multiple stakeholder groups such as government, detention centre personnel, community leaders and even general society. There have been systematic problems in society in attempting to curb re-offenses by both violent and non-violent law offenders which has been stymied by inefficiency in current rehabilitation program development. Many prisoner rehabilitation programs tend to focus on establishing knowledge through higher education in traditional course subjects ranging from English proficiency to mathematics, however this fails to address the psychological and sociological problems that often serve as the catalyst for re-offending. In order to get to the root of what actually drives prisoner desire to continue a life of criminal behaviour, there needs to be more focus on establishing relationships with habitual offenders to alter these behaviours that pose risk and danger to the whole of society. This serves as the appropriate rationale for the development and launch of an arts education program. Art education, at is foundations, delivers on social justice by promoting social inclusion, establishing emotional intelligence for cultural diversity, and also promotes a desire within arts-educated individuals to continue pursuing life-long learning. Why is this? Arts education inspires a sense of social inclusion for those in the prison system who currently feel alienated and shunned from the rest of society (Kotler Trust 2013). Prisoners can be taught the fundamentals of higher education routinely, which would certainly build their competencies in mastering knowledge. However, only arts education maintains the potential to alter social attitudes and create important psychological connections between culture and the self, thereby inspiring an individual within the prison system to explore maximising their own potential. This proposed arts education pack is designed to build psycho-social strengths within conflicted and frustrated prison populations for long-term rehabilitative outcomes and removing risks from society from those prisoners unable to find appropriate cultural connections that motivate compliance with the social order. 1.1 Aims and Objectives The term arts can be interpreted in many ways, including tangible renditions of sculpture, paintings, and music. For this arts education program, however, the intangibles of arts as it pertains to cultural awareness and cultural inclusion make up the foundation of how this education program will be addressed and developed. This aim of this arts education pack is to follow respected models of sociology and psychology, thereby utilising art as a methodology to achieve social belonging and self-esteem development for those in the prison system in desperate need of social justice, equality, and social relationship development. The program maintains three distinct objectives: Build self-esteem and assist in forming a positive sense of self-identity through arts discussion in an experiential learning environment. Teach prisoners to think abstractly and outside of the proverbial box in order to expand problem-solving and ingenuity. Improve collaborative skills between prisoner groups that will facilitate a more effective and productive transition back into society post-imprisonment. The objectives outlined in this arts education interpretation program will be accomplished utilising competency in teaching prowess from experienced educators in a focused, human-centric and motivational learning environment. 1.2 Need and demand Within the prison system, it is increasingly difficult to establish a cooperative atmosphere and set of inherent attitudes within prisoners that promote and accept group functioning. Criminal behaviour, under respected theories of sociology, is a learned behaviour that is often influenced through peer association. Individuals with a propensity for conducting criminal acts often socialise with antisocial peer groups where crime is regularly reinforced and applauded (Cullen and Agnew 2002). Furthermore, social learning theory teaches society that individuals will often mould their behaviours against those who they find attractive and credible (Weiten and Lloyd 2005). There are currently no legitimate or respected models of behavioural modification that address the long-term impact of peer network influence on what drives and promotes criminal behaviour. These are long-standing influencers in the life of the habitual criminal offender that often require intensive counselling or psycho-analyses in order to remove these well-imprinted social values. This is why this interpretation pack is needed: Creation of a motivating and socially-inclusive environment that allows for direct intervention with other prisoners and arts education experts can begin to deconstruct maladjusted social attitudes and behaviours without reliance on expensive and labour-intensive counselling techniques and procedures. There is ample demand for this arts interpretation program, as the costs to society and government for advanced psychological consultations strains community and state-level budgets. The burden to society’s taxpayers is significant when attempting to rehabilitate prisoners. This arts education program will take an innovative approach to changing attitudes within habitual offender groups, gaining support and interactivity with many stakeholders that currently struggle with budgetary issues and the sociological process developments that continue to bring no measurable results for changing prison population behaviours and attitudes. Figure 1 illustrates the appropriate policy mapping for involvement and development of the program. Figure 1: Policy Map for Stakeholder Involvement and Project Developmemt Thus, it should be recognised that this arts education program serves two purposes as it relates to need: Satisfy rehabilitation budgets in multiple sectors and facilitate a more effective series of methodologies by which to improve social functioning in habitual offender groups. 1.3 Potential impact of program Establishment of emotional intelligence is one of the most primary and paramount outcomes of this proposed program. Empathy is the capacity and ability to perceive emotional states within others which serves as the foundation for rational moral evaluation (Krevans and Gibbs 1996). In many cases, the habitual offender has not had accessibility to more positive social outlets (due to a variety of factors including poverty or poor parental involvement during formative years). Development of an inclusive and enthusiastic arts education program will allow for appropriate role play exercises as an effort of using arts discussion as the template by which to change the social condition within a variety of habitual offenders. By discussing such elements as diversity, arts and culture, and providing opportunities for individual and group critique of arts-related conceptions, empathic development is the anticipated positive outcome. Furthermore, this arts education program maintains the ability to promote significant change within a prison population that often resists more traditional methodologies to create widespread inherent changes to attitude and moral values. Grieves (2010) suggests that in order to avoid such resistance, change must become a negotiated process. Maladjusted individuals maintaining antisocial behaviours often detach themselves from difficult feelings and situations. It is common practice for the habitual offender to utilise unhealthy defence mechanisms to mask their genuine feelings, a form of dissociation to avoid taking accountability for improper actions (Bowins 2004). Using an operant conditioning approach incorporated into the arts education program, behaviours can be altered without revealing to the learners that they are being subjected to psychological manipulation. Operant conditioning is when behaviours can be altered by either applauding or chastising negative behaviours through what is referred to as vicarious reinforcement (Morris and Maisto 2005). Discussions stemming from engaged prisoners in the program will be publicly reinforced consistently when instructors see proper alignment between arts-related content in communications and positive empathic/cultural development. This is an effective methodology for improving negative or maladjusted behaviours. There is, however, one notable limitation to this arts education program that should be recognised and addressed. The goal of the program is not necessarily related to improving tangible knowledge of art, such as providing knowledge about artwork analyses, rather it is about altering difficult behaviours and attitudes using art-related conceptions as a foundation for promoting more innovation and ingenuity in thinking and rationalisation processes within the learner groups. There is simply not enough evidence, at least until post-program evaluations have occurred, that this approach will maintain the same long-run consequences as that of respected and time-honoured psychological counselling methods. This will be a pilot study contributing to the vast body of sociological and psychological research to determine whether there are arts-related alternatives that can reduce the propensity to exhibit antisocial behaviours. 1.4 Audience/Participants Through consultation with important stakeholders in the prison population, the program will be able to recruit the most effective learner population that will be most likely to respond effectively to empathic training, social inclusive learning, and behaviour modification through elements of operant conditioning built into the training program. The population for this arts education program cannot exceed acceptable limits of volume as there are many elements of the program that will require individualized and customized discussion. Too high of a learner group volume will only serve to negate this personalised approach needed to gain commitment and promote attitude changes. This arts education program will be facilitated within the prison environment utilising two competent instructors, one that is well-versed in psychology and sociology and another with an expert background in arts education. This is for safety purposes and also to facilitate the more advanced behaviour modification strategies associated with the arts education curriculum. A total population of fourteen prisoners will be recruited who will act as the study’s test market to determine long-run effectiveness for recurring program implementations across the UK. Plan administrators, prison officials, psychologists with experience working with the prison population individually, and appropriate members of local government will be consulted for this project to identify the fourteen individuals that would have the most probable positive outcomes from attending a program with this type of intensive focus. Since this program will require the presence of security officials as in accordance with prison policies and regulations, recruitment of this security presence will be voluntary and/or coordinated with senior-level prison management. 1.5 Territory Local prisons maintain recreational facilities, cafeteria space, and sometimes actual learning classroom environments that will provide the territory required to facilitate this arts education program. Prison administrators will work with plan developers and the chair to determine what space is proper for allocation toward this program which will occur over a 12 week period, three times weekly, for a duration of three hours per day. Equipment required for the program will be procured or borrowed according to appropriate contracted agreements with prison officials and local government. 1.6 Engagement and recruitment strategies Another goal of this arts education program is to facilitate community stakeholder interest in its integrity and long-term promise for improving the social condition and removing risk from general society for repeat offenders. The program administrators will work with local public relations agencies to develop appropriate promotions, both in social media and in print, localised publications (i.e. newspapers and community-based publications) to gain community support and, where appropriate, additional funding from interested and engaged community stakeholders and businesspersons. Recruitment for determining the most appropriate teaching and facilitation will occur via social media and also through the development of an information website that describes the program concept, intention, and need for qualified instructors to assist in this process. Local newspapers will supplement these recruitment efforts to ensure a larger candidate pool of potential plan facilitators to guarantee competency in program implementation. Interested candidates with a background in the domain of psychology and sociology as well as tangible education experience and credentials in arts education will be interviewed by plan administrators until the most appropriate teachers have been selected. A set of evaluative criteria will be developed in the recruitment model by which interviewers will measure the acceptability of interested candidates. 1.7 Collaborators Outside of the two required talent experts in both domains of knowledge, the program will require behind-the-scenes collaborators to assist in developing an appropriate arts curriculum. The program will require collaboration with government and legal entities to ensure that the program complies with local and national laws pertaining to prisoner rehabilitation; a budgeted expenditure necessary to ensure compliance and remove risk from the teaching model. Collaboration will also occur with experts in the art world, from museum curators to liberal arts degree holders to incorporate new and innovative dimensions of arts education into the program structure. These collaborations will occur as preliminary project development consultants, who will be given credit and recognition for their contributions to developing an appropriate and efficient arts education program. 1.8 Financing The 12 week, three day weekly program will require appropriate funding to ensure that needed instructional materials and support technologies are available for successful facilitation of the program. Below are the estimated start-up costs for launch of the program: Technologies – Computers, printed learning materials, art supplies, textbooks, etc. £20,000 Legal £5,000 Software Support £6,000 Market Research Tools £2,500 Contract Costs Salaries Total Start-Up Needs £2,500 £10,000 £46,000 Prior to finalising all concepts utilised in the program, the plan administrators will consult with government to determine the level of funding available for prison rehabilitation programs. Additional funding, if required, will be coordinated through requests for community stakeholder advertisement to give credit and recognition to those in the community that believe in the long-term sustainability and integrity of this program. Local business owners or even private corporations will be approached with guarantees of publicity for collaboration and support which will be utilised to ensure the program maintains all start-up and long-run facilitation needs necessary to achieve the program objectives and expected outcomes. If additional funding is required, due to lack of community stakeholder interest, the plan administrators will seek out local grant funding to supplement the program. 1.9 Legacy and exit strategy There is ample evidence that achievement moulded against expected program outcomes represents a positive program legacy: Increased awareness of arts and culture in prison populations A network of research-supported educational curriculums used as best practice in prison rehabilitation systems Raise level of prisoner skills and proficiency in empathic learning and application to facilitate more effective social relationships post-imprisonment Raised awareness in key stakeholders groups of the importance of arts education as an effective learning tool to facilitate more community interest in alternative behavioural modification programs. More efficient utilisation of resources in the rehabilitation process A comprehensive and full evaluation report on the project will be developed by plan administrators allowing for multiple inputs from key stakeholders will be constructed in the exit strategy. The report will refer to the different training modules incorporated into the curriculum with reference to methodologies of the delivery staff. Copies of the report will be submitted to prison executives facilitating utilisation of internal resources for the program, to community and national government officials, to the research community, and the collaborative arts experts that consulted with the project; bound professionally according to established protocols for program evaluation templates utilised in the professional business world. 1.10 Risk Analyses The business will consult with professional risk evaluators with a quality reputation in identifying business risks associated with strategic development to assist in identifying appropriate marketing strategies, recruitment strategies, and remove legal-based liabilities from the teaching curriculum. An independent risk auditor will be selected during preliminary planning and during implementation to advise on what risks are most relevant for this program. 2.0 Education interpretation activity As previously identified, in order to make positive gains associated with behavioural and attitude modification in the prison learner population, experiential learning is critical to achieve program objectives and expected outcomes. This section describes the tangibles of program development necessary to achieve the project aims. 2.1 Physical structure of program The program starts with new audience engagement, facilitating initial, first-day discussions about prisoners’ practical experience with the arts world. Such discussions will include making public group comments about feelings or experiences with cultural heritage. Arts educators only get one opportunity to engage in this fashion when addressing new audiences (Johnson 2013). Discussions between plan educator will be transcribed by the recruited psychology and sociology expert who will, after first day education has been achieved, discuss any commonalities or associations identified with prisoner discussion as it relates to values and principles with current attitude about cultural heritage. Maladjusted or antisocial responses recorded, if applicable, will identify which students likely require more intensive customisation of learning to facilitate a more positive set of responses. This will help to create effective character profiles for all fourteen program participants to assist in proper utilisation of operant conditioning concepts most likely to be effective at the individual level. The program will utilise a variety of hands-on exhibits to foster the experiential learning process, including building models with an intention on providing abstraction in creative thought, which will be measured for engagement by both program facilitators. Because many prisoners are unable to utilise rational decision-making when assessing their actions and behaviours, this exercise is designed to promote creative problem-solving and ingenuity necessary for those with minimal self-control or lack of emotional intelligence. The program will also utilise several demonstrations from experts in the art world in order to engage in further experiential learning. Volunteer artists from local museums or private businesses will be invited to demonstrate their artistic prowess in a variety of different formats, ranging from painting to sculpture. During the demonstrations, the prison learning group will be given opportunities to explore art methodologies and engage themselves in the artistic process. Prisoners will be given clay and asked to create innovative artwork on a variety of themes to engage the creative thinking process, ranging from their feelings about incarceration to their positive attitudes about eventual release back into society. This is designed to create enthusiasm needed in prisoner groups that have been exposed to antisocial peer networks and maintain the positive attitudinal momentum needed for long-term behaviour modification. Facilitators will open the floor for group discussion to identify with their rationale for each individual piece of artwork constructed from the clay, setting the foundation for vicarious reinforcement of positive behaviours needed under the operant conditioning model. Additional interpretation media will be utilised as part of software support to further engage participants in arts education. The territory where training and learning occurs will be set-up with clever and engaging digital learning galleries with supplementary tangible support tools (i.e. posters and art literature cork boards). Prisoner learners will have periodic access to these tools via associated, procured software support tools so that there is a richness of experience when learning about the different conceptions of culture associated with a variety of art forms. This interactive zone is also designed to inspire aesthetic appreciation of artwork, with supplementary open floor discussion opportunities to facilitate better relationship development among the learner groups. The elements of psychology incorporated into this arts education program are vital to changing attitudes and maladjusted behaviours with conflicted and confused (as well as detached) prisoners. Effective social work requires that teachers and experts in sociology engage prisoners with a therapeutic approach in order to achieve positive changes in behaviour; a humanistic approach (NASW 2005). The learner group, during their interactions with the experiential learning gallery and support software, will be asked to keep a daily journal in which they record their honest thoughts and opinions for later discussion in group format. This is expected to add richness to the cultural experience and begin building the foundation of trust between diverse prisoner learners necessary to help them transition from antisocial values to a more inclusive and rewarding social experience. Arts-related role play will also be incorporated into the program, putting group members into teams of seven in which various cultural scenarios are incorporated into group discussion. Such discussions will include, but are not limited to, enacting empathetic role play scenarios in which the prisoner attempts to understand the mindset and rationale of various artists in an effort to better interpret meaning behind selected artworks presented during the course. Role play will also occur at the individual level, allowing prisoner learners to empathise with one another regarding their prowess for artistic expression or how they might behave post-incarceration as they continue to explore the art world; such as how to behave properly in museums or art galleries among pretentious or youth-based customer groups. This is the practical application of operant conditioning whereby appropriate or inappropriate responses during role play will be chastised or applauded to ensure that thinking is aligned with proper social attitudes in public domains. Prisoners will not be told of this intention, rather they will believe these role play sessions are simply to build better peer engagement. To elicit the necessary trust to gain relationship commitment and improve social programming, prisoners will also be given opportunities to develop their own methods of artistic expression, being instructed to come up with a unique innovation in art presentation. Regardless of what prisoners develop and promote, it will be heavily applauded for its ingenuity as a means of further operant conditioning required to change very long-standing and maladjusted attitudes related to social networking. Each unique conception will be followed with a public presentation of what drove this innovative arts idea, discussing the emotions behind it and their expected outcomes by introducing it into the course. By giving the prisoners opportunities to express their own ideas, it is designed to create a sense of autonomous thinking, whilst also considering the impact on others and their emotional states, to continue the process of empathic development. To further incentivize this activity, an independent judge from the prison authority population will be selected to serve as a judge (using a pre-set template of evaluative criteria) to determine a winner. The winner, as coordinated with prison executives and authorities, will involve a reward for their excellence in innovative thinking and empathic reasoning, ranging from potential food rewards or extra free time during recreational periods. Again, this will ensure trust is elicited along this curriculum model and provide the motivation and self-esteem development so critical to changing prisoner mindsets. 2.2 Expected learning outcomes Though this proposed arts education program does not maintain the duration required to make monumental changes to attitude that is most commonly achieved through intensive counselling and humanistic support experts, it does maintain the potential to build a foundation of compassion and consideration for the emotional states of others. Prisoners are often detached from their emotions built on years of frustration and social isolation. The program is designed to not only give the learners a new (or renewed) sense of appreciation for the importance of art in society and to the self, it will also build the foundation of self-confidence that is often lacking in individuals that feel their prison experience and previous record of criminal history will prevent them from becoming successes post-incarceration. The most effective learning outcome is helping individuals to develop their own sense of identity outside of peer networking, whilst also providing the learning foundation to maintain life-long learning and empathetic values toward the needs and social diversity of others in society. 2.3 Evaluation methodology Pre-testing in the form of interviews will be conducted with the prisoners prior to their first day of arts education. This will help to identify any particular dependencies, neurotic or otherwise confused attitudes (as well as current maturity level) of the prisoner learners so that proper approaches can be customised within the learning group for the individual. Post-interviews and survey instruments will determine whether learning has been achieved homogenously or individually, allowing for adjustments to this curriculum to occur in the future to improve reliability so that this course can be replicated over and over again and still achieve measureable results in empathic reasoning, cultural development, and interpersonal relationship development. Evaluations will also occur through qualitative observation by an independent expert in sociology and psychology to measure whether prisoner attitudes have been moderately or intensely improved, utilising respected models of professional evaluation under a critical and clinical lens. Bibliography Bowins, B. (2004). 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