Law through Experience

Resource Texts and Methodological Materials for Prison Educators

Editors: Janka Debrecéniová, Šarlota Pufflerová
Published by: Občan a demokracia, Bratislava 2006
ISBN: 80-89140-10-6
EAN: 9788089140107
 
The multilingual CD Law through Experience: Resource texts and methodological materials for prison educators is a result of a two-year effort of four NGOs from Denmark - Koebenhavns Kvindedaghoejskole, Greece - ARSIS Association for the Social Support of Youth, Poland - Polskie Stowarzyszenie Edukacji Prawnej and Slovakia - Občan a demokracia, which participated in a common EU-funded project called Law through Experience: Interactive and Participatory Socio-Legal Training Course for Prison Educators.

The CD is a collection of all of the materials developed within the project. They can be divided into three groups:

1. Resource texts on the following topics:
   1. Law – Rights, Duties and Responsibilities
   2. EU Law
   3. Discrimination
   4. Gender Issues
   5. Domestic Violence
   6. Right to Privacy
   7. Freedom of Expression
   8. Right to Information

   The texts are a rich resource for acquiring comprehensive familiarity with each of the topics before working with prisoners and other relevant target groups on the mentioned topics. They contain explanations of the relevant legal and philosophical concepts, information on how these particular concepts and other relevant human rights issues are handled by international and national jurisdictions, the means of achieving redress of breaches of protected rights and institutions that are supposed to assist individuals in these cases. All resource texts contain glossaries on the most important terms relevant to the individual topics and a list of websites that can act as a further resource for acquiring more detailed information.

2. Lesson plans on each of the abovementioned topics.

   Each resource text is complemented by a set of lesson plans that an educator can use, either directly or indirectly, as a source or inspiration, when dealing with her or his clients. All lesson plans employ methods of interactive and participatory teaching and contain detailed descriptions of procedures and equipment to be used to enlighten various aspects of these topics. Each lesson plan contains tips for trainers on how to improve/modify the lesson and how to present it in different contexts or under different circumstances. Most of the lesson plans also contain lawyers´ comments on the relevant legal issues, which undoubtedly makes the educators working with them more confident when discussing various legal and human rights concepts with their clients.

3. Universal methodological materials designed to help the users of this CD to deal with general issues related to interactive and participatory teaching – such as particular teaching techniques, dividing trainees into groups, supporting training activities (icebreakers, energisers, endgames etc.), feedback and evaluation.

 
All of the CD materials are produced in English, as well as in the languages of the countries participating in the project - Danish, Greek, Polish and Slovak. The English versions reflect a universal international - mainly European - dimension and are the lowest common denominator that can be valid for any prison educator from EU Member States or other Socrates countries. The national versions show how the universal dimension can be transferred to national ones; they also encompass the national specifics of the countries participating in the Law through Experience project.

The CD materials were put together by an international team of experts from the fields of law, pedagogy and education, psychology, and sociology. All of the materials underwent extensive multi-level testing through expert peer-revisions and direct feedback of representatives of the project target groups.

As a resource material, the CD is also suitable for educators of other target groups than prisoners. It is being distributed within the framework of educational events of the Citizen and Democracy Association and the other organisations involved in the project.
 

The CD was published with the financial support of the European Community, within the framework of the project entitled Law through Experience: Interactive and Participatory Socio-Legal Training for Prison Educators that was carried out within the framework of the Socrates programme´s Grundtvig Action 1. The sole responsibility for this product lies with the authors and the other copyright holders. The Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.