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URING the past 15 years many persons skilled in the techniques of educational organization have been called on by government and private industry to organize training programs for employed personnel. This emphasis on "in-service training" has presented to educators new and challenging opportunities.

Numerous units of government and industry are engaged in highly complex programs which may vary from year to year. In view of this fact, it has been recognized that general education and preservice technical training must be supplemented. It has also been recognized that a program of in-service training which acquaints the employee with the policies and procedures of the employing organization usually "pays its way."

Following is a description of the inservice training program of one Federal Agency, the Bureau of Prisons:

In the field of penology the prison system is responsible for receiving prisoners committed by the courts. Through planned methods of "treatment" it is charged with the duty of returning such persons to the communities where they belong as self-supporting, respectable citizens, insofar as that is possible.

It is important in prison work to know how to meet and deal with persons. The individual who cannot do that will not make a good prison employee. The employee who enters the prison business finds it different from any other kind of undertaking, because experience in this field can be acquired only through onthe-job training. Some persons enter this work with the background of professional or technical experience necessary in certain phases of the treatment program, but regardless of their previous experience they must all learn the prison business.

The "attitude" of the employee who is to be responsible for the control and supervision of the inmates of an institution is important. In view of these cir

cumstances the objective for which we strive in giving the new employee experience is to offer him an opportunity perience is to offer him an opportunity (1) to learn the general principles of institution management, (2) to participate in the technical procedure used by the six services-administrative, advisory, culinary, custodial, farm, and mechanical-operating in the institution, (3) to become acquainted with the policies developed for the control of the prison, and (4) to demonstrate that he is capable of maintaining the proper attitude of dignity, consideration, and tact in dealing with prisoners.

Generally speaking, the conventional approach to the training of prison employees is to offer lectures dealing with institutional management, classification of prisoners, and discussions upon psychology, education of adults, and the like. It is not often that a sufficiently consistent attempt is made to improve the "attitude" of a new employee, but unless the man who is to be responsible for the control and supervision of inmates of an institution either has or ac

quires the right attitude toward this type of work, training will be ineffective.

Some administrators believe it is desirable to train each group of employees to do only the particular part of the work with which they are identified. Under that method one group is concerned only with clerical work, another with the classification of prisoners, others with educational activities, parole, library facilities, and the like, while the majority of the employees are "guards." majority of the employees are "guards." Then there is little opportunity for the exchange of personnel and each group establishes its own little island of prestige, frequently neither understanding the responsibilities and activities of the organization as a whole, nor exhibiting organization as a whole, nor exhibiting interest in things with which they are not directly identified.

In the prison business a cohesive, well organized, cooperative group of employees is necessary. A good training program must break down artificial bar

riers, make it impossible to create islands of prestige, and direct the efforts of all employees toward the accomplishment of the common objective for which the service exists.

Supervision and Training of Prisoners is Primary Task

One of the peculiarities of prison administration throughout the country is that too many of the employees have been relegated to an unimportant place in the program. They are usually given the title of "guard," which in itself is significant, because it does not describe the responsibilities imposed upon the employee, and is generally associated with the idea of a "watchman" or a man "with a gun on his shoulder." In fact, this is the group of employees who come in daily contact with the prisoner, and their ability to supervise and counsel is an important factor in the success of the "treatment program," while their custodial duties are incidental although important. How could any business dealing in human relations be successful if only a few of the employees understood what it was expected they would accomplish? There is no such position as "guard" in the Federal Prison System, and in the leveling off process, necessary for the establishment of a career service, the recruitment of all personnel begins through the appointment of “correctional officers" at a common entrance grade, to be followed by training, placement, and promotion according to the demonstrated ability of the individual.

While it is true that prison employees must learn how to use firearms and must engage in a certain measure of physical training planned to give them a knowledge of defensive tactics, these undertakings are nothing more than incidental to their primary task which is the supervision and training of prisoners. The real objective is to help the new employee acquire the right "attitude," and to accomplish that end, while you help him learn about his daily work, you must give him the right perspective, and teach him what is expected of him as a prison employee by showing him how an institution functions.

The first step in the training of employees in the Federal Prison System is to acquaint them with the responsibilities and activities of the various groups engaged in prison management. The

related functions of a prison are grouped as "services." As indicated previously, these services are referred to as the administrative, advisory, culinary, custodial, farm, and mechanical. While the new trainee is not assigned to the performance of actual duties, during the first week following his entry on duty he participates in the Orientation Course, to give him an opportunity to learn something about the environment in which he is to work and to become acquainted with the personnel responsible for the various services. This introduction to prison work is accomplished through lectures, tours of inspection, and daily group conferences, but no attempt is made at this stage of the training to outline studies or to assign the trainee to specific tasks. This course lasts 1 week.

Basic Course

The next step in the training is known as the Basic Course, in which the trainee acquires general experience in prison work. Lectures have a very small place in this course which consists in the main of on-the-job training, during which the functions of each of the six "services" represented in prison management are demonstrated. The trainees are given pamphlets descriptive of the work and they are assigned progressively to an instructor who explains and illustrates the task to be performed. When the trainee

the basic course and the orientation course.

understands what is expected of him and has demonstrated on the job that he knows how to do that portion of the work to which he is assigned, he is for a short time given full responsibility for the performance of the job, with the instructor observing, counseling, and assisting him if needed.

When he has acquired a fair working knowledge of the job on which the training is given, the instructor submits a report using the standard efficiency rating form on which certain elements are indicated as having application to the work of the trainee. Definitions have been developed for each of the elements so selected in order that the report of the instructors may have some degree of uniformity. The trainee himself is expected to submit a narrative report explaining what he has accomplished and commenting upon the things he has observed in the course of his instruction. These two reports, prepared independently, go to the training officer.

The plan developed for on-the-job

instruction in the Basic Course is intended to give the trainee information regarding the work to be performed by the prisoner, so that he will be better prepared to exercise supervision and will have more assurance when assigned to a job. After the instructor has coached the trainee and given him a background upon which to work, the

trend of instruction is to develop his ability to supervise the prisoners whe actually perform the work on the job. This plan is followed throughout the Basic Course until the entire field of prison work, as indicated by services, has been completed. At the end of the course the trainee will have worked under two instructors in each of the 6 services, and these 12 instructors will have reported on his work as a trainee. The trainee himself will have submitted 12 narrative reports respecting the job he has completed.

Development of Performance Tests

In prison work many different trades and professions are needed. Forty-five of these are recognized as essential to the accomplishment of many functions of prison administration. One feature of the Basic Course is the development of performance tests. When the traine reaches the particular job for which he is potentially best qualified he is given a performance test, which is an actual demonstration of his ability to perform the task which would ordinarily be done by trained and experienced prisoner workers. Each performance test must be completed within a period of approx imately 2 hours, and consists of the assignment of definite tasks which have been selected as best suited to demonstrate the ability of the trainee in profes sional, clerical, or mechanical work.

The standard efficiency rating sheet is used by the instructor in rating the trainee in accordance with definitions developed by the Bureau of Prisons. If he is successful in passing the performance test he is then assigned for 2 weeks to work in that particular service, and during that interval he ceases to function as a trainee, but is given regular duty assignments just as though he were a new employee assigned to that activity.

The Orientation Course requires 1 week for completion; the Basic Course, 14 weeks, including 2 weeks work assignment following the performance test. At the end of the 15 week interval, the employee is assigned to one of the six services representing the functions into which prison work is divided.

By that time, the trainee has had opportunity to learn how all the different departments of the institution function. Under the leadership of various instructors he has demonstrated his ability to supervise and deal with prisoner workers. Throughout the course of this training, emphasis has been placed on the maintenance of a proper attitude. No one group of employees can accomplish satisfactory results if they work independently. Responsible employees must know something about the problems and the methods pursued by other groups of employees. Promotion and advancement are earned in the service according to demonstrated ability to deal with prisoners and to cooperate with other units engaged in the administration of the prison.

Opportunity for Advancement

The Federal Prison System is not a place in which to "vegetate." An employee has opportunity for advancement, if he is interested and works upon his own initiative to improve these opportunities, and if through cooperation with others he renders substantial aid in the development of the treatment program. For the employees who have completed the Orientation and Basic Courses the Technical Course is developed. This consists of specialized instruction having application to the different fields of prison work. For example, the Technical Course developed for the employee in the Mechanical Service deals with the refinements of instruction and supervision in connec

tion with mechanical trades and similar activities, and in its application to the treatment program deals with specialization in the education of adults, classification of prisoners, library science, and the like.

The Technical Course does not undertake to teach any employee a profession or trade. Instead it is developed for the purpose of showing an employee how best to utilize his profession or trade in the management and guidance

of prisoner workers. As an incentive to employees who are interested but who do not have the professional knowledge or the trade skill, arrangements have been made with various colleges throughout the country to offer specialized courses. The employee who is able to do so may attend these courses. The employee who must supplement his knowledge while on the job has opportunity to participate in correspondence and extension courses.

New York City Public Schools

"Character training is the chief aim of New York City's public schools." With this statement, John E. Wade, superintendent of schools in New York City, opens his annual report for the past school year titled, All the Children. Description and activity photographs are utilized in about equal proportion to convey an understanding of the aims and achievements of the schools during the year. The following information is taken from the report:

Through retention of teaching positions in the face of small register and by

appointment of additional teachers, an improved educational program provides

for:

A further reduction in the number of oversize classes.

Additional small-size classes for slow learners and additional special classes for maladjusted children.

More remedial instruction.
More guidance service.

Increased services for physically and mentally handicapped children.

More playgrounds and recreational facilities.

Added provisions for extracurricular activities.

An enlarged program of health service.

Increased opportunities for adult education.

School-Home-Community Program

During the school year, supervisors and teachers have recognized the fact that they have a larger responsibility, one which extends beyond the immediate school environment. They are aware of the fact that their function includes an intimate relationship with the community which the school serves.

Their ability to interpret the schoolcommunity relationships is quite as important in the development of the school program as their knowledge of school administration and the techniques of classroom instruction.

The following steps have been taken by supervisors in organizing this school-home-community cooperative program:

An over-all picture of the community of the school-health, safety, housing, and economic status-has been obtained.

A study of the educational, religious,

recreational, and leisure-time activities

has been made.

Orders for the publications listed on this page should be addressed as follows: Requests for cost publications should be sent to the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D. C., enclosing remittance (check or money order) at the time of ordering. Free publications should be ordered directly from the agency issuing them.

New U. S. Office of Education

Publications

Family Contributions to War and Post-War Morale. Washington, U. S. Government Printing Office, 1945. 5 cents each.

No. 1. Suggestions for Using the Series. No. 2. Home on Furlough. No. 3. They Also Serve. No. 4. We Carry On. No. 5. First Days at Home. No. 6. Catching Up With the Children.

Statistics of City School Systems, 1939-40 and 1941-42. By Lester B. Herlihy and Walter S. Deffenbaugh. Washington, U. S. Government Printing Office, 1945. 103 p., illus. (Biennial Survey of Education in the United States, 1938-40 and 1940-42, Volume II, Chapter VII.) 20 cents.

Data on enrollment, school attendance, length of school year and days attended, pupilteacher ratio, supervisory and teaching staff, salaries, sources of revenue, distribution of city school expenditures, expenditures per pupil in average daily attendance, school buildings and property investments, city school district bonded indebtedness, night schools, and summer schools.

Statistics of Nonpublic Elementary and Secondary Schools, 1940-41. By Lester B. Herlihy. Washington, U. S. Government Printing Office, 1945. 28 p. (Biennial Survey of Education in the United States, 1940-42, Volume II, Chapter IX.) 10 cents.

Data on approximately 70 percent of all private schools in the United States which are below the college level.

Training School Bus Drivers. Washington, U. S. Government Printing Office, 1945. 162 p., illus. (Vocational Division Bulletin No. 233.) 30 cents.

General considerations relating to the training of drivers and the operation of drivertraining courses, and a suggested instructional

32

program prepared by the American Automobile Association and the Trade and Industrial Education Service of the Vocational Division of the U. S. Office of Education.

The Place of Visiting Teacher Services in the School Program. By Katherine M. Cook, Washington, U. S. Government Printing Office, 1945. 46 p.. (Bulletin 1945, No. 6.) 10 cents.

Develops briefly the objectives of and need for pupil personnel services and the place of visiting teacher work in school programs; includes a brief historical sketch of the development of visiting teacher services in school systems; gives basic information on such services in the school systems of cities of 10,000 and above in population in the United States; and summarizes certain conclusions which seem justified by the information collected.

New Publications of Other

Agencies

U. S. Civil Service Commission. Library. Arrangement of Public Administration Materials. Washington,

U. S. Government Printing Office, 1945. 120 p. 5 cents.

A scheme of classification developed to meet the special needs of the U. S. Civil Service Commission.

U. S. Department of Agriculture. Farm Credit Administration. Cooperative Research and Service Division. Cooperative Possibilities in Freezing Fruits and Vegetables. By Anne L. Gessner. Kansas City, Mo., Farm Credit Administration, 1945. Processed. 60 p. Free as long as supply lasts from Director of Information and Extension, Farm Credit Administration, Kansas City 8, Mo. (Miscellaneous Report No. 84.)

Discusses the technical problems involved in freezing foodstuffs, describes methods, and presents facts regarding the extent of the industry.

U. S. Department of Commerce. Bureau of the Census. City Finances: 1943. (Cities Having Populations Over 25,000) Volume 3: Statistical Compendium. Washington, U. S. GovCompendium. Washington, U. S. Government Printing Office, 1945. Processed. 224 p.

Expenditure for schools and public libraries are included in these summaries. Previous

U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1945

1943 reports in this series are: Volume 1 Individual City Reports (for each city havi... a population over 250,000); Volume 2, Topica Reports (on debt and expenditure).

U. S. Department of Labor. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Occupational La for the Counselors; A Handbook o Census Information Selected for Use i Guidance. Prepared in cooperatio with the U. S. Office of Education Washington, U. S. Government Print ing Office, 1945. 36 p. 10 cents.

A selection, summarization, and interpreta tion of material from the mass of census su tistics, to supply a need of counselors and others who are helping young people and vet erans to choose a vocation.

U. S. Department of Labor Women's Bureau. Negro Women Wr Workers. Washington, U. S. Gover ment Printing Office, 1945. (Bulleti 205) 23 p. 10 cents.

A story of the ways in which Negro women. helped to bridge the manpower gap during the war period.

U. S. Department of State. Pape Relating to the Foreign Relations of the

United States: 1930. Washington. U. S. Government Printing Office, 1945 3 vols. Volume 1 (Publication 2229, $1.75, buckram; volume 2 (Publication 2330), $2.25, buckram; volume 3 (Publ: cation 2319), $2.25. buckram.

Contains the diplomatic correspondence car ried on with foreign nations during the year 1930. In volume 1, for instance, are the tele grams and reports on the London Naval Coference together with the text of the Treat for the Limitation and Reduction of Nava Armament, signed in London, April 22, 1930.

U.S. Federal Security Agency. Offic of Community War Services. Soci Protection Division. Danger Ahead Issued in cooperation with Surgeo General, U. S. Army, and Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, U. S. Navy Washington, U. S. Government Printing Office, 1945. 4 p. folder. Free from Director, Social Protection Division Office of Community War Services, Federal Security Agency, Washington 2 D. C., or the nearest Social Protection Regional Office.

Folder calls attentions to the need for co tinued social protection and presents a col cise program for law enforcement for healt for social treatment, and for education.

SCHOOL LIFE, November 194