The research project titled Critical consciousness, Learning and Transformation in Reforming environments (P.N. 80253 funded by the Special Account for Research Funds of the Hellenic Open University) is three-year ethnographic study (09/2021 – 08/2024) of the Laboratory of Biographical Learning and Transformative Adult Education led by the Assistant Professor of Adult Education, Dr. George A. Koulaouzides, and implemented by the postdoctoral researcher of the Hellenic Open University, Dr. Antigone Efstratoglou. The research was implemented in six Second Chance Schools which operate in Greek prisons The study, unique in methodology, duration and scope for the specific field in Greece, and one of the few of its kind internationally, was based primarily on biographical narratives of incarcerated students, long-term participatory observation of school life in three Second Chance Schools where the researcher was also part-time employed as an adult educator (based in Korydallos, Larissa and Domokos men’s prisons) and occasional observation of classes in three Schools (two of them based in Diavata-Thessaloniki and Chania men’s prisons and one in the women’s prison of Thebes). Hundreds of informal communications in the field, interviews with experienced teachers and other experts employed in prisons, as well as an extensive cross-cutting literature research that were conducted in the context of the study allowed, despite its qualitative approach, an expanded view of the topic in a way that reflects broader social concerns.
Findings of the study have been presented in three international conferences (ICODL 2021; ESREA 2022, ESREA (TEAE) 2023) while a paper titled Understanding the Challenges of Perspective Transformation in Prison: Biographical Narratives of Foreign National Students of a Second Chance School in Greece is published in the Journal of Prison Education Research. A second publication is expected in the following months.
In the context of the dissemination of the research results, a training seminar was completed in Spring 2023 within the framework of the project Citizen’s University that was implemented by the Municipality of Larissa (a member of the Unesco Global Network of Learning Cities) ,and two open presentations of the research results were held in Chania and Larissa with the participation of adult educators, prison school principals and other institutional representatives. Within the deliverables of the project a research report documenting the research journey is expected to be completed, while public awareness activities will be carried out regularly. More information [In Greek] about the progress of the project may be obtained by visiting its website: https://fhagigjh.my.canva.site/