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Prison Education is regulated by legislative and institutional requirements as are other kinds of Learning and Skill provision, but it is also fundamentally affected by the custodial requirements of the British Legal system. This, together with the relative isolation that teaching staff face within an organisational culture which is peculiar to each prison, produces a learning culture that is very different from that of general Further Education. This paper discusses initial findings of the LONCETT Prison Education Research Project (2008), which aims to identify the specific professional training needs of prison educators in London. Findings from five of the eight prisons in London highlighted two main pedagogic issues that emerged as key aspects of prison education practice which require both specialist training input and further research: the fragmentation which characterises the learner experience; and the emotional stress produced in this environment, which impacts both upon prisoner-learners and teaching staff.

Education providers and employers working together to prepare young people and adults for employment is internationally accepted as a key factor in effective technical and vocational education. In the English context, however, we argue that two related orthodoxies have prevailed -- 'employer engagement' and 'skills supply' -- in which education providers have striven to gain employer involvement in their programmes and meet their skills needs. The effectiveness of these twin orthodoxies has been limited by the 'New Low Skills Equilibrium' (NLSE) involving a symbiosis of weaknesses on both the education and employer sides. The article draws on findings of a two-year research and development programme in East London which explored the process of education-employer partnership working to support inclusive growth in key economic sectors. The research suggested that this aim was best supported by processes of 'co-production' that actively involved both partners in attempting to address features of the NLSE. The research also pointed to constraining factors. The article concludes by identifying the conditions required for the realisation of co-production approaches that include the development of new collaborative structures -- High Progression and Skills Networks (HPSNs) -- involving a wide range of social partners at the local and regional levels.