Available onlineOU study 1972-1982
(page 3 of 4)Online exhibition theme created by Jenny Meegan a member of the OU Time to Think Project Team
| Harry Donaghy clip: | Sharing books and building a library |
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| Duration: | 00:02:25 |
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| Eleanor Gaw clip: | It wasn’t exactly your average education! |
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| Duration: | 00:01:59 |
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In the Compounds each prisoner organisation had their own Education Officer who negotiated with the official (state) Prison Education Officer about educational provision. Harry Hughes, himself one of the OU's first graduates, was the first Prison Education Officer in 1974, followed by Dominic Henry in 1977. In the late 1970s and 1980s, a wide range of educational classes (of which the OU was part) flourished in the Compounds. Maurice Kennedy, the OU Staff Tutor in Mathematics, also taught A Level (Advanced Level) Maths through the prison education department and encouraged a number of students to then take OU Maths degrees.
In both 1980 and 1981, fourteen new OU students began their studies. In addition twenty post-foundation courses were studied in Arts, Social Sciences, Maths, Technology and Science. In the first clip on this page Harry Donaghy describes the cascading of learning and sharing books with OU students in the Official IRA Compound. In the second clip on this page Eleanor Gaw, OU Humanities tutor, describes the teaching environment at this time.
The image on this page is by Geordie Morrow who painted his surroundings in the UVF Compound in the 1970s.
