Prison Guards Locked in Psychic Prison

The Howard League are urging the educational development of Prison Warders and the The Prison Officers Association say: see All prison officers should be educated to degree level

"The Prison Officers Association said personal qualities not qualifications helped make a good prison officer.

It added the idea was "naive and narrow-minded".

What more compelling evidence is needed than this for a significant intellectual up-skilling of people in Prison Service!

It is not a question of either/or. Either /or thinking is indicative of lower order intellectual ability. Of course excellent social skills are needed. Aren't they in any profession?? Prison officers will be accomplished social influencers. And...

If the profession is develop beyond mere 'single loop' problem solving it needs critcially reflective practioners. People with the intellectual tool kits to enable them to characterise and make sense of their worlds and experiences in new and imaginative ways.

To suggest that prison officers don't need professional development is the outlook of the Luddite and indicative of the intellectual experience of the people running The Prison Officers Association.

This way of thinking is typical of the rear guard argument of a paradigm that feels under threat. it is indicative of a paradigm that is less than self assured. It is a Psychic prision from which the POA doesn't want to escape from.

The POA should read:
The advantages and disadvantages of a university degree