Abstract
This paper situates education as an integral component of the overall prison rehabilitation process. The article discusses how an educational practitioner's knowledge of attachment theory and masculinities can be utilized to develop a secure methodological teaching environment in the classroom of a prison education unit and create a space where transformative learning can take place. The link between attachment theory and the social and institutional composition of masculinities are considered for their influence on perceptions and concepts of the masculine self and masculine identity in general. The practitioner who is cognizant of these issues has the potential to develop secure methodological frameworks that focus on creating a nurturing learning environment that has the potential to provide students with a space to safely reflect, examine and potentially transform their learning experiences and thus their sense of self.
Highlights
This paper situates education as an integral component of the overall prison rehabilitation process
A teaching methodology that incorporates an awareness and understanding of attachment theory offers educators working in prisons a means of forming a more comprehensive and dynamic approach to understanding and actively working with the attachment patterns, masculinities and the different learning style that are encountered in this adult education environment
This paper has discussed the utilisation of attachment theory as a central tenet of an emotionally informed transformative teaching methodology in a correctional education setting
Summary
Definitions of manhood, manliness, maleness and masculinities are contested. These cultural and social characterisations are not without ambiguity nor do they go unchallenged. Taking Gamsci’s concept of hegemony as the basis for the construction of an analytical framework, Connell (2001) suggests that masculinities can be understood as negotiated relational male identities, defined within the social and cultural milieu of the power dynamics of hegemonic, complicit, subordinate and marginalized. Hegemonic masculinities are the dominant configurations of male identities that exist within a social setting and are reflective of the ideas and beliefs of those in positions of power or authority in that context. These analytical categories of hegemonic masculinities and marginalised masculinities are not fixed male types, but compositions of interactions conditioned on systems of relations within social settings. They are both outwardly visible and internally conceptual. As discussed later, addressing this aspect of masculine identity through considered teaching methodologies offers transformative educational opportunities for both teachers and students
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