The making of a Breakthrough associate
A look at how we’ve designed our pre-apprenticeship training
Written by Lucy Hart
Most prisoners can take part in education and professional training, as well as work in prison, to help them prepare for job opportunities on release. But what’s on offer varies across the country, and is known to be middling, at best. It’s also heavily dominated by courses for relatively low paid career paths, from cleaning and construction to manufacturing and driving.
At Breakthrough, we are joining the ranks of those who want to break that pattern, so our programmes are designed to equip associates for entry level roles and apprenticeships at firms where they can earn a salary of London Living wage or higher. Most importantly, we hope to support them to set up a strong growth trajectory in areas like software development and business administration.
Employers, understandably, are interested to hear what we know about our associates and what training they’ve been through before being put forward for apprenticeships, so here’s a breakdown of how things are working right now (we’re always iterating).
Who’s taking part?
We run two variants of our pre-apprenticeship course: one that takes place inside prison for those who are approaching release, and one in the community for those who have already been released but may be struggling to find employment. Everyone who takes part must be 19 or over, and have the eligibility to work in the UK, but otherwise – anything goes. Our associates might not have a single GCSE to their name or they might have a masters; we’ve trained both and everyone in between, so the programme has been designed to cater for different abilities, mixing one-to-one support with independent study time.
They are either serving or have served prison time, or are ‘at risk of crime’; in either case, we do not know what convictions are on their criminal record for the first six weeks of them joining Breakthrough. People in the community can be referred to us by partners like councils, probation officers, charities or housing associations. We don’t run any assessments before people join our programmes, just an introductory afternoon so that potential associates can decide whether what we offer is right for them. Most importantly, we can guarantee that each participant has drive and ambition, given they’ve chosen to take part (no one is made to join).
What are they learning?
We start by making sure our candidates can properly participate – that means securing laptops, getting permission to bring them into prison, and making sure our community participants can travel to our offices. Then there are three core strands to our programme: technical training, taster topics and mindset development. We have a small team of inhouse facilitators. They each have their own style but all meet individuals where they are and guide them through the course content with respect and compassion.
The structure works like this:
On the first day of each week, our expert comes in – volunteers from product and technology businesses like CGI, Founders and Coders, Audit Board & Assembly. They provide an overview of the technical area we’ll be looking at that week and give examples of how they apply the skills in their work.
Associates work on a project to deepen their knowledge of that topic throughout the week, both independently and with the course facilitator. For example, putting together a proposal for an app based on product-market fit, competitor analysis, and benefits assessment. We’re not expecting them to master a topic within a week, of course, but it gives us a chance to assess their aptitude to learn and them a chance to familiarise themselves with the language and concepts that are likely to be present in their future workplace, like data analysis, sales pipelines and project management.
At the end of each week, each associate presents their work back to the group. The weight of this can’t be understated – many have never spoken in public before. It’s an opportunity to build confidence and work on body language and delivery that pays dividends in the interview process and beyond. This work then goes on to form a technical skills portfolio that can be used to demonstrate their skills to potential employers in place of a traditional CV.
Alongside the technical content, we facilitate the growth of associates’ skills in areas that are essential to securing and succeeding in a job outside. We bring in coaches who support the group in understanding how to show up as their best selves, have effective influence, and maintain a growth mindset. And it works – one of our most recent graduates spoke of his classmates: “I’ve seen a change in all of you. Keep on changing when you get outside.” We build on that with CV writing and reviews, and mock interviews with real employers. Some of our associates undertook more than half a dozen of these in our last course – a great primer for when they get out.
What happens afterward?
When our associates graduate from our programme, we keep working with them until they are in work, and for the following 12 months. This might seem like a lot, but the wraparound support is essential in what is a period of fundamental transition in their life.
We offer that support in a few different ways:
A business mentor, who can help the associate understand workplace norms and answer questions about the career
A pastoral coach, who has lived experience of prison and can help them with the psychological, social and practical barriers they’ll need to overcome
Office space, where they can join the Breakthrough team to work from (our) home or work on applications
Socials, where they can build their social network – many prison leavers have to leave their old social groups behind in order to take a new path
Success to us is placing these candidates in good roles with prestigious employers, and in turn starting a ripple effect whereas they rise through companies, there are more representative voices in the business world. Our pre-apprenticeship programme is the first stepping stone in that journey, and we can’t wait to see more associates graduate, and also to share our learnings with other organisations.
Follow our updates on LinkedIn or Instagram to get more insights into what our programme looks like both inside and outside prison – or better still, meet our associates as a volunteer or as a potential employer.