In 2017 the European Commission – Directorate General for Justice and Consumers, highlighted their interest in the training of probation professionals. CEP was encouraged to work on creating a network of experts on the training of probation professionals at European level. This interest was formalized in the report prepared by the European Commission, “Evaluation of the 2011 European Judicial Training Strategy and preparation of the future 2019-2025 strategy”, which expanded the range of professional categories to be included in the new European Commission’s Judicial Training Strategy for the coming years and included probation professionals.
CEP members also highlighted their interest in the topic of education and training of probation staff. In a context of a rapid development of the criminal justice field and the growing importance of probation measures as more effective and with less economic cost, the training of Probation professionals has become crucial and challenging. In addition, the transfer of probation supervision orders between Member States has emphasised the need for comparable and equivalent practice across jurisdictions. In these circumstances, it is important to share knowledge and training expertise across Europe, train probation staff as specialized professionals and to share good practices, training methodologies and materials to assure quality training and practice.
Meeting programme of the Expert Network
CEP established a programme of meetings of the Expert Network on Education and Training in Probation with the following objectives:
- to create a solid expert network in the field of education and training of probation staff at a pan-European level;
- to exchange experiences and best practices between countries and bodies in the field of education and training;
- to share knowledge updates in relation to legislative developments, intervention Guidelines from the European Commission and the Council of Europe and other research findings;
- to have an information data base and central resource point on innovation and good practices presented at CEP expert network and other meetings on the CEP website.
The Covid-19 Pandemic has unfortunately disrupted the work of the network and prevented in-person meetings over the last two years.
Fourth meeting of the Expert Network on Education and Training in Probation
On 1st July 2022 CEP organised the fourth meeting of the Expert Network on Education and Training in Probation at the Centre for Legal Studies in Barcelona.
CEP invited key education and training leaders and representatives of probation bodies in Europe to participate in this Network meeting.
This meeting aimed at enhancing the knowledge on education and training in the field of Probation, exchange experiences and good practices between different countries in the field of education and training, share recent updates in relation to both legislative developments and interventions and to create a solid expert network in the field of education and training of probation staff at European Level.
Representatives from twelve different European Jurisdictions participated at the expert network meeting. CEP also invited the following three expert speakers:
Ms. Emmanuelle Cretin-Magand, European judicial training, Directorate General for Justice and Consumers, European Commission.
Dr. Nicola Carr, University of Nottingham, U.K presented on the Council of Europe Guidelines on Education and Training for Probation Staff.
Professor Ioan Durnescu, University of Bucharest, Romania presented on Basic skills for probation staff.
After presentations there was a World Café discussion on different questions related to Education and Training of Probation staff.
All presentations plus the conclusions of World Café discussion and the programme can be downloaded below.
- Shaping the Future: Education and Training for Practice, Nicola Carr, University of Nottingham
- ‘Better staff has better clients’, Ioan Durnescu, University of Bucharest
- Conclusions of World Café
- Programme