Through programs like Erasmus+ but also through previous programs like Grundtvig and Leonardo, a strong European network of people involved in prison education has been established. For the Dutch partners involved in this consortium this has been of great importance. People working outside the prison walls have little insight into the specific problems and challenges in this field. Sharing ideas with colleagues elsewhere in Europe has certainly improved the quality of our work over the recent years. The reality is that many prison teachers everywhere in the EU are living on a sort of island with no or very few direct colleagues around. Being aware of what is happening elsewhere in Europe and learning from each other in the quick changing educational landscape is very important.
All organisations involved in the consortium are involved in education in prisons. In previous projects we had also received KA1 funding. Our experience was that this was very inspiring and added a lot to the quality of our own work. It was a great experience to visit similar organizations abroad, to be involved in job-shadowing, join conferences and European courses. We shared the experiences gained through the mobilities through organizing European courses ourselves, organizing webinars and by giving workshops at conferences organized by others. We were looking for an opportunity to continue with these activities, therefore we applied again for KA1 funding. This time however we had extra motivation to apply. In recent years there have been several European projects that focus on education in prisons. Several partners of the consortium have been involved in one or more of them. Some projects were very successful. Also elsewhere in Europe many organizations have been involved in projects in the field of prison education. Unfortunately the reality is, that once projects are over and there is no money to maintain a website, the results are not accessible anymore. Apart from the mobilities, the project "Bringing It All Together" aimed at collecting lessons learned from previous European Projects on prison education.