"For my students, learning to multiply is not as important as learning to trust others"

BarcelonaSònia Angelats is a primary school teacher, but she teaches adults. The Santiago Rusiñol Adult Education Centre is inside the Youth Prison, where there are young people aged 18 to 24 convicted or on remand. Her students study instrumental training, "which is basically primary school for adults." She explains that, in practice, the day-to-day in the classroom is not so much based on following a curriculum, as would happen in a school outside these walls: "For my students, learning to multiply and divide is not as important as learning to behave, to trust others, and other emotional aspects necessary to be able to develop the academic part."

In fact, the first level of instrumental training is dedicated to literacy, and after the fourth and final year, students can move on to ESO (Compulsory Secondary Education). "All my students come from another country, and it's not just that there's a language barrier, but that in their country they were not schooled or have attended school very sporadically," explains Angelats, who adds that the reasons can be diverse: "Many explain that they had to bring money home and instead of going to school they went to work, others left school to come here or because the educational model was very traditional and they became disassociated from it. Talking to them, I've seen that many of their parents didn't know."

She explains that the rotation of students in the group is constant, not only because new inmates may arrive or those who started the course may be released, but also because they may be transferred to another prison. Other times, group changes are related to being able to balance training with a job or another activity inside the prison. Therefore, Angelats explains the importance of ensuring that the group is cohesive and that the students trust her. "When someone new arrives, the teacher has an important role, but the role that the students play in this welcome is much more important. It's very difficult here, and what works best for me is that they trust me enough so that if I tell them a new student is coming, they can receive them knowing that it won't be anything that will disrupt them. Prison is a very hostile environment, and it's very difficult for them to be open to receiving someone unknown."

And how does she try to earn that trust? "One of the most important things is the look with which you look at them, because they notice it. If you look at them as the usual delinquent, you are lost. You have to look at them as the people they are, and what seems very easy to say is very difficult to do." That's why, she says, she avoids consulting the history to know why they have been imprisoned: "I can access a computer and see the crime they have committed, but my function is not to work on their crime, I am not a psychologist or an educator. What do I get from knowing the crime that brought them there? Nothing.

Furthermore, she explains, in the relationship within the group "there are also many power dynamics among them: the teacher commands, but among the students there are always some who command more." For example? "If that particular student wants to be a delegate, even if the others think he is not the most suitable person, he will end up having their support. Normally this has less to do with the crime they have committed and more with group dynamics, with the degree of influence they exert over others, or with whether they have the power to achieve things that others want."