Being an Educator: Norwegian Prison Officers’ Conception of their Role Regarding Incarcerated Persons’ Education

Abstract

Despite the fact that prison officers are close to the incarcerated persons in everyday life in prison, and therefore will have great impact and influence on the incarcerated persons’ understanding of and motivation for education and training in prison, we still know little about prison officers understanding of their professional role regarding incarcerated persons’ education. This article will investigate how Norwegian prison officers understand their importance as educational actors through the following research question: How do Norwegian prison officers understand their role as actors in incarcerated persons’ education? Building on qualitative interviews with 16 Norwegian prison officers’ the article analyses the role of prison officers from a broad educational perspective (Biesta, 2009; 2014; 2015; OECD, 2005; 2019). The analysis reveals that prison officers conduct work that enables incarcerated persons to master their own lives during the execution of and after completing their sentences. Although prison officers play a significant role in incarcerated persons’ education in prison, they are partly unaware of this role, and find that their own role is not in a collaborative relationship with other actors who facilitate incarcerated persons’ education.