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EC awards action grant to develop curriculum for training of probation officers

Publication date: 1-9-2011

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Late July good news was spread among the partners of a new European project. The project ‘Criminal Justice Social Work' (CJSW), which aims to develop and test a European academic curriculum for the training of criminal justice professionals, was awarded its action grant by the European Commission. The allocation of the grant is a big step for the involved educational institutes, professional Organizations and CEP.

The grant proposal, for the ERASMUS Life Long Learning Programme, was prepared and submitted by Bas Vogelvang, representing the applicant Avans University of Applied Sciences in ‘s Hertogenbosch. He did this in close collaboration with Anneke Menger, representing HU, University of Applied Sciences of Utrecht. Other project partners are the Universities of Bucharest, Reims, De Montfort (Leicester), Glasgow, Edinburgh, Latvia, Maltepe (Istanbul), the professional organizations of France, The Netherlands, Norway and Latvia, and of course CEP.
 
These schools and organizations will work together to develop teaching modules (degree programmes) for education in the field of criminal justice social work on bachelor and master level. The materials will be available to European schools and professionals in the criminal justice field. Each module can be used differently by the individual universities and organizations but through the use of a common set of contents (materials), the project aims to professionalize the sector of criminal justice and the graduates will be better prepared to apply the Framework Decision on probation in the international cooperation between states. The project will also provide for international exchange of students and teachers.

The origins of the project: Conference in Agen
The CEP conference on Recruitment and Training of Probation Practitioners, 2009 in Agen, was one of the inspiring starting points of the idea to work toward a European curriculum. "That conference," says Anneke Menger, "made clear that the European Decision Framework created a new common context of growing importance of European collaboration; not only in probation practice but also in educating and preparing future officers." Among the participants of this conference were several of the current project partners, giving presentations on the educational programmes in different countries as Latvia, Romania and The Netherlands. Ioan Durnescu of the University of Bucharest presented on the necessity to come to a European educational programme and gave a first outline for such a programme. Anneke Menger stressed the necessity of close, ‘critical friendly' cooperation between universities and probation, and between education and practice driven research. "The conference made clear it was time to pay closer attention to the education of probation workers in Europe. We all already offered programs, now we wanted to work together to enhance the quality." The collaboration between European universities is also expected to improve the curriculum on a national level. "For instance, in The Netherlands," adds Anneke Menger, "people were still wondering why we need specific programmes for social workers, working in judicial contexts, as probation officers do. In other countries however, specific bachelor or master programmes are available for probation officers and others working with mandated clients. This project will show how valuable and rich such programs are and hopefully will trigger the Dutch universities to go forward."

Bring the probation sector closer together
The countries that are participating are all confronted with the Probation Rules of the EU. Some may have already invested a great deal in time in the implementation, others possibly made less progress. "The curriculum project can therefore have a positive effect on these developments," says Bas Vogelvang. "Within the three years that the project will run, we can use programme development as a tool to innovate and come together. I hope we will learn to understand each other better and develop shared goals and materials for staff formation. This will help building an infrastructure for better communication. Which is a condition for an effective implementation of the Probation Rules."

Compare and innovate
Considering the large number of partners and the wide scope of subjects, it will take a great effort to complete the three year project as planned. Anneke Menger: "We will be dealing with multiple educational and probation systems, and although we know each other pretty well, I expect a great deal of discussion and questions. But in the same time, this is the most interesting advantage, because by explaining your own terminology to others and making comparisons, you are forced to consider your own assumptions again. As a whole we can then lift our educational programs to a higher level."

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Read more: EU officially enacts Framework Decision on probation

Download the Framework Decision on probation in English, French, Dutch and German in the Knowledge base.