1. Context/background of project: The starting point of this project can be found in the difficulties encountered by the educational staff (educators, teachers, volunteers, etc.) in carrying out their profession in prison. The education in prison is different from the one in schools: it involves many factors linked to the prison context and its organisation, the prisoners, the rules, the organisation of the time, which all influence the teaching activities and make them extremely complex. The peculiarity of the recipients (either waiting for trial or already convicted) conditions their participation in the educational activities. The same can be said for working prisoners, because it can happen that work and teaching sessions are at the same time. For these reasons, the teachers and volunteers involved in the proposed partnership aim to share their experiences, discuss teaching methodologies as well as the encountered criticalities, and compare the best practices. 2. Objectives: The project aims to organise an autobiographical activity within the prisons to promote and encourage the reconsideration of the past and the planning of the future "beyond the bars". In short, the goals of "The chrysalis and the butterfly" project are : - Creating a space for reflection on specific topics to allow prisoners to redefine their lives during and after their experience in prison; - Strengthening the identity and the self-esteem; - Encouraging and motivating prisoners to describe their personal experiences and to communicate - even within a European context - the difficulties of living in prisons; - Comparing the outcome of the Erasmus project with similar experiences of other European prisons; - Presenting their work to the regional networks operating within the prisons; - Spreading the produced papers and multimedia at the end of the project; - Share the results of the project with the European partners involved; - Making the chosen methodology (autobiography) a common didactic practice in the educational processes for adult prisoners. 3. Number and profile of participants: We expect over 200 detainees to join. In part, they are already involved in autobiographical paths: for them writing has become "the place of freedom" where people meet to tell the inner world that is likely to annihilate themselves due to isolation and lack of stimuli. All prison staff, (management, educators, cultural mediators) and voluntary associations present in the various prisons gave their support. Also through their contribution, it will be possible to create a community open to dialogue and exchange, both locally and in a European context. 4. Methodology to be used in carrying out the project: The partners intend to use the autobiographical methodology to promote and encourage the reconsideration of the prisoners’ past and the planning of the future "beyond the bars". The project will be based on some paths, "existential trajectories" that will be freely used by partners to frame the canvases of prisoners’ lives in an immaterial structure, which will result in a self-reflexive and introspective value through different disciplines or areas. At the end of the project, we will get "Pictures of an exhibition", as Musorgsky would say: the writing of oneself (or, in general, the opening of a window on one's own existence) will be understood as a questioning of the identity of the subject, as individual labor, as the assumption of 'self-care', hopefully as the re-elaboration of a trajectory of meaning. 5. Results and impact envisaged: The most concrete result of the project will be the creation of Network of Autobiographical-artistic prison Pedagogy – NAP- which will disseminate,moreover, the manual of autobiographical methodology, the monographs of autobiographical literary texts and theatrical performances with people deprived of their liberty . The contribution of "The chrysalis and the butterfly" to penitentiary pedagogy will make it possible to: - Promote new kind of activities among operators involved in detention training and education; - Encourage the practice of using autobiography in the European context; - Promote the research in correctional education field in the European context. 6. The potential longer term benefits: This project aims to obtain the maximum benefit from the activities funded, so that its effects may outlast its two year duration. We wish to underline how collaboration among partners will continue through the usual methods of communication. Therefore we expect to continue to: - Collaborate on the e-Twinning platform; - Define a new Ka229 partnership, possibly aggregating other associations; - Keep the web site updated and collaborate with other networks; - Disseminate and maintain the results of the “The chrysalis and the butterfly”; - Continue to maintain relations of cooperation and friendship between the teachers involved, outlasting the professional aspect.
The project "The Chrysalis and the Butterfly: Autobiographical Paths in Penitentiary Pedagogy" was born from the hypothesis that a critical pedagogy of art promotes the development of preventive education. In this sense, the word positions itself transversely, helping individuals deprived of freedom to give new meaning to their past. Over these years, we have worked on defining objectives that would transform a project based on oral tradition, literature, reading, writing, and artistic expression into a complement to the educational structure of the penitentiary institution. 1. Create a space for reflection on specific themes so that individuals deprived of freedom can redefine their lives after the prison experience. 2. Motivate inmates to describe their experiences and communicate the difficulties of prison life through strategies of oral narration and creative writing. 3. Provide inmates with tools for self-criticism and communication skills to make their experiences and creations visible inside and outside the penitentiary institution. 4. Establish connections between the prison community and the educational community.
The starting point of this project stems from the challenges faced by educational staff (educators, teachers, volunteers, etc.) in carrying out their profession in prison. Education in prison differs from that in schools due to various factors related to the prison environment and its organization, the inmates, rules, and the organization of time, which influence educational activities and make them extremely complex. The uniqueness of the recipients (awaiting trial or already convicted) conditions their participation in educational activities. The same applies to inmates who work, as work and teaching sessions may overlap. For these reasons, teachers and volunteers involved in the partnership proposal aim to share their experiences, discuss teaching methodologies and identified challenges, and compare best practices. From these premises, the efforts of participating organizations have focused on exchanging best experiences, mutual availability, and creating tools for sharing produced materials.