Book Chapter

Literacy Skills, Academic Self‐Efficacy, and Participation in Prison Education

Manger, Terje, Jones, Lise Ø.

2019

Overview

The aim of this chapter is to examine prisoners' literacy skills, their self‐efficacy beliefs concerning reading and writing, and how such variables are related to their participation in education during incarceration. Several studies show that prisoners have low literacy skills compared to the general population. A large body of evidence suggests that the prevalence rates of reading and writing difficulties are between 50 and 70% of the prison population. There is, however, a lack of consensus about the rates of dyslexia. While some researchers have reported signs of dyslexia in about 50% of the prison population, others suggest that the dyslexia rate is similar to that of the general population, and low reading and writing skills are attributed to deficient training or a lack of practice. People's perceived self‐efficacy is essential to academic success. For prisoners, studies indicate that academic self‐efficacy is a contributor to educational participation, which again can increase their academic self‐efficacy.

• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc
• Subject: academic self‐efficacy / barriers to education / dyslexia / literacy skills / prison education / reading and writing difficulties
• ISBN: 9781119261377, 1119261376