Adult Inmates ’ Motivation for Participation in Educational Programs in Greece

Adult Education in prisons aims at challenging the illiteracy of those incarnated, which often leads to delinquency and recidivism. In Greece there are educational programs designed for inmates like those of vocational training and counseling. With the establishment of Second Chance Schools (SCS) inside prisons, a more systematic and integrated effort was made for the overall development of trainees and their fullest participation in the economic, social and cultural life. In the past, little interest had been shown regarding the education of adult inmates. Lately, however, many studies have been conducted regarding the work that SCS provide. For this reason, a systematic review of the relevant bibliography and a compilation of the findings of the studies realized between 2006-2016, regarding the motives of inmates participating in the educational programs, was considered appropriate. The results demonstrate that the strongest motives have to do with the pains of imprisonment, the reduction of time the inmates had to serve, the enrichment of knowledge of the inmates, their self-improvement and the ability to acquire and develop essential skills for their rehabilitation in the societal and professional world.


Introduction
Educational activities and programs take place in Greece in various prisons and by various agencies.The operation of Second Chance Schools for adults in prisons is an important development, as the curriculum they offer is based on the principles of adult education and contributes to raising the prisoners' education level.Several researchers have studied parameters of these educational actions at the level of one prison or prisons in one region.However, no synthesis of the findings of these individual surveys has been attempted so far.
The contribution of our work to the field lies in the fact that it is a systematic review in the field of prison education in Greece in order to synthesize the data of individual surveys on the motivation of prisoners to participate in training programs carried out in prison.It is important to consider the issue of prisoners' motivation for learning, in order to properly design the relevant educational activities and programs.
Altogether, seventeen (17) investigations have emerged from our search for this particular issue.
The first two sections present the theoretical framework of the work, focusing on adult education, the training of prisoners and the conceptual identification of motivations.The third part concerns the methodological framework of the work and the fourth the presentation of the results.The paper ends with the discussion and the conclusions.

Adult Education and Inmates' Education
Adult education is a field of activity, but also a scientific field, clearly described within the context of lifelong learning and education, at least in the scientific discourse (Karalis, 2013, p. 15).
We quote UNESCO's classic definition (UNESCO, 1976): The term 'adult education' denotes the entire body of organized educational processes, whatever the content, level and method, whether formal or otherwise, whether they prolong or replace initial education in schools, colleges and universities as well as in apprenticeship, whereby persons regarded as adult by the society to which they belong develop their abilities, enrich their knowledge improve their technical or professional qualifications or turn them in a new direction and bring about changes in their attitudes or behavior in twofold perspective of full personal development and participation in balanced and independent social, economic and cultural development.(p. 2) Kokkos (2005, p. 45) states that the institutional field of adult education "... consists of the actors that provide the full range of forms of formal and non-formal adult education".
Later, the wider term of lifelong education appeared, which, according to Vergidis (2001) is an approach to all educational activities (formal, non-formal and informal) of all levels, allowing their composition in an educational continuum, in constant interplay with the socio-economic, political and cultural reality.Lifelong education is characterized by flexibility in time, space, content and teaching techniques.(p.138) Gradually the term lifelong learning predominates internationally, as being broader than the terms "lifelong education" and "adult education".According to the definition in a relevant European Commission resolution (Council of the European Union, 2002): Lifelong learning must cover learning from the pre-school age to that of post-retirement, including the entire spectrum of formal, non-formal and informal learning.Furthermore, lifelong learning must be understood as all learning activity undertaken throughout life, with the aim of improving knowledge, skills and competences within a personal, civic, social and/or employment-related perspective.(p.11) As it has been pointed out, the replacement of the term 'lifelong education' with the term 'lifelong learning' also marks the shift towards individualization in the context of neo-liberal ideological hegemony (Vergidis, 2014).
Lifelong Learning (LLL) has been a priority of European education policy, but also of the advanced world, since the late 1990s onwards.The reasons for LLL's dominance are, according to Green (2006, p. 19), three framework factors that act as driving forces (a) demographic and aging populations found in all advanced societies; (b) global economic restructuring and its impact on skills demand; and (c) cultural and social change in developed countries.
However, it is clear that lifelong adults' education strengthens the under education-over education dipole by widening educational inequalities (Vergidis, 2014;General Secretariat for Lifelong Learning, 2013).One of the key findings in UNESCO's international conference on adult education -held every twelve years -COFINTEA VI of 2009 was that in fact those with lower levels of education benefit less from adult education.As it is emphatically pointed out, this is the "fatal problem" that adult education policy has to face, by devoting significant resources to non-privileged people (UNESCO, 2009).
Among the non-privileged are, of course, as a vulnerable group, the inmates.
Attempts to educate inmates in our country's prisons have been carried out in the past by the Prefectural Committees of Population Education and by the General Secretariat for Adult Education (formerly General Secretariat for Adult Education, now General Secretariat for Lifelong Learning and Youth), which has initiated counseling programs since 1985, alongside educational programs, aimed at enhancing educational motivation, cultivating skills for better management of life both while in prison and after it, acquisition of social skills and personal empowerment (Rigoutsou, 2005).
Also, since August 2003, within the framework of the project "Adult Education Centers", classes of prisoners' training operated in specific prisons in the country in order to create those conditions that can provide the right opportunities for entering the labor market , reducing social exclusion and shaping the attitude of an active citizen through the acquisition of new basic skills, as well as the upgrading and updating of already existing ones (Rigoutsou, 2005).However, these programs functioned in particular prisons, not all prisoners had access to them, and they were fragmentary and were carried out on a voluntary basis.It is noted that the operation of the Adult Education Centers stopped in June 2011.
Actions are also undertaken by Non-Governmental Organizations, which in cooperation with Vocational Training Centers carry out programs in various prisons in the country (Moudatsou, n.d.).
In addition, KETHEA, in the context of its actions for the detoxification of people from psychotropic substances, operates educational programs in many judicial prisons in the country (Papaioannou, 2015).
A significant landmark was the operation in 2004 of the first Second Chance School (SCS) in Greek prisons, specifically in the Judicial Prison of Larissa.Since then, their number has increased gradually and in 2017-2018 there are eleven SCS in total in the following detention facilities: Diavaton Thessaloniki, Nigrita, Grevena, Trikala, Larissa, Eleonas Thebes, Domokos, Malandrinos, Patras, Chania, Korydallos.In addition, there is a department at the Korydallos Detention Hospital (Ministry of Education, Research and Religious Affairs/General Secretariat for Lifelong Learning and Youth / Foundation for Youth and Lifelong Learning, 2017).
The operation of these schools is an important development in prison education, as their curriculum is based on the principles of adult education and is developed taking into account the specific characteristics-social, cognitive and psychological-of the prisoners (Papaioannou, Anagnou, & Vergidis, 2016).The training provided in the SCSs is systematic and leads to high school certificate.The duration of the studies is two years and is divided into two nine-month periods.A cornerstone of the education offered is a multiliteracies network that aims at the acquisition of modern knowledge, skills and attitudes that will help trainees with social and economic integration and advancement.An important role is played by trainers who are called upon to perform a particularly demanding and complex task (Rigoutsou, 2005;Wright, 2005;Papaioannou, Anagnou, & Vergidis, 2016).

Motivation: Conceptual Identification
It is important to initially identify the concept of motivation.Motive is defined as what moves, pushes or drives the person into action.In more detail, "the instincts, impulses, various purposes, desires, or various emotional states act as internal causes of behavior, while wages, lusts or fears or repulsive irritations are the external causes" (Kostaridou-Efclidi, 1999, p. 17).As it has been pointed out, "Motivation theories vary and are one of the most important points of inquiry into the factors that motivate learners to interrupt an adult education program" (Vergidis et al., 2013, p. 7).
The variety of motivation is such that no single theory is sufficient either to describe them or to interpret the mechanisms through which they affect human experience, behavior and action.For example, Spector (2000) argues that motivation is an internal process that activates, guides and maintains behavior over time, intensifying and directing it under the effect of needs and desires.McClelland (1961) and Atkinson (1964) developed the theory of achievement motivation, defining motive as drive, that is, an inner need and a desire to experience success that forces individuals into action.Moreover, when the person knows that the decision to act includes reward, then the motivation to achieve it acts multiplicatively.De facto positive and negative feelings accompany this decision.The positive ones create the expectation of success and the negative fear of failure (Kostaridou-Efclidi, 1999).
According to Rubenson (1977), a relationship of agreement or inconsistency arises between participation and expectation of this participation.
Kandas (1998, p. 40) considers motives as result of a direct or indirect hetero-determination, in the sense of "creating the conditions that might make someone do something".According to the self-determination theory, motives may be endogenous and / or exogenous (Ryan and Deci, 2000): endogenous motivation exists when one is mobilized to satisfy an internal need, while exogenous motivation exists when one is driven into action expecting a result which is directly linked to the action taken.Rogers (1999) defines motivation for learning as a person's tendency to pursue learning activities that are important and directed towards a particular goal, clarifying that "motivation is linked to the ability to approach the goal: close goals-high level of motivation, distant goals-weak motivation" (p.130).
Boshier, creator of the Educational Participation Scale (EPS), did not focus only on the types of trainees with their characteristics, but also on the motivation for participation based on their orientations (Boshier, 1971;Boshier, 1973;Boshier & Collins, 1985 as cited in Karalis, 2013), which are grouped as follows: a. developing social relations, b. external expectations, c. social offer; d. professional upgrading; e. escape from other situations; and f. interest in knowledge.Burgess (1971) identified motivation as "the desire for knowledge, for the attainment of a personal goal, the attainment of a social goal, the attainment of a religious objective, escape, participation in an activity, and compliance with formal requirements", p. 3).
Regarding prisoners in particular, their motivation to participate in training activities is partly different from the motives of the general population (Costelloe, 2003;Forster 1990).
The initial impetus for prisoners to be included in an educational activity in prison should be linked to educational factors that rarely apply outside of prison (Forster, 1990).Some of their incentives to participate in education only apply in the context of prison.They emerge from the need to 'escape' from the prison life, or alternatively, prepare for life after release (Costelloe, 2003;Parson & Lagerback 1993).According to these findings, education is not always attractive on its own, but prisoners can get involved in the educational process to avoid something less attractive, such as jail work.
Similarly, Skaalvik, Finbak, and Pettersen (2003) identified a broad category of prisoners who began participating in educational programs to avoid aspects of prison life as opposed to seeking education as a constructive activity, while in another broad category prisoners cited as the greatest motivation the value of education and future employment prospects.
In a more recent study three categories of motivators were identified (Manger, Eikeland, Diseth, Hetland, & Asbjørnsen, 2010): • Preparing for life after release

Social reasons
• Factors related to the general context of prison.
In their study, Manger, Eikeland, and Asbjørnsen (2013), summarizing the bibliography, conclude that educational decisions among prisoners are based on various motives, which can be both inherent and exogenous.Inmates may be motivated to build up competencies or have a desire to start learning for learning per se or motivated by forces other than education itself, such as worries about the future (e.g.work or the desire to avoid crime) or the desire to be with others at school.They can also be mobilized by escaping from something less desirable, such as life routine in jail and boredom.

Research Methodology
The present work is a systematic review in the field of prison education.According to the manuals for researchers by the Cochrane (2015) and Cambell (2014) organizations, in order for a review to be considered systematic, it should satisfy some principles when designing and implementing it.In brief, we present the principles of the methodological steps of the research process in the systematic review, which were followed in this study: • Formulation of the research question.Our research question was: What are the trainee inmates' motivation for taking part in educational programs?
• Defining the criteria for searching and selecting the material to be studied Defining the criteria for the inclusion and exclusion of primary studies.
• Thorough search and identification of the studies to be included in the analysis based on the research question.
• Full and detailed report on the material and methods of collecting and analyzing both quantitative and qualitative data.
• Synthesis of the results.

Search Method
Initially, a search for sources of material collection was conducted.Since this systematic review concerns the training of adult inmates in Greece, we searched in national databases and search engines, article references, abstracts of papers in conference proceedings, databases of doctoral and postgraduate dissertations.More specifically, Google Scholar, online libraries of Greek universities -including the Hellenic Open University -and the National Documentation Center were used.In cases where the material was not available electronically with open access, the file was searched for in the libraries' premises or the full text order service was used wherever possible.Also, articles published in scientific journals, such as "Adult Education", the "Aretha" Scientific Yearbook, or on scientific websites such as the Adult Education Network of Crete have been searched for.Finally, there was a personal communication with a researcher to locate research that could not be retrieved in any other way.
The systematic review was conducted between 20th April 2017 and 5th June 2017.The search resulted in 44 titles in Greek (3 doctoral theses, 37 postgraduate dissertations and 4 articles).At the initial screening, 41 of them were identified as potentially relevant, requiring a full text review in order to select the review studies.After being studied systematically, the researches which converged on the research question were selected.Thus, we resulted in 17 studies, which investigated the issue of inmates' motivation for participating in educational programs.16 of these are postgraduate diploma theses and 1 is an article.

Data Record and Analysis
Key elements of the identity of the analyzed researches are illustrated in the following Note.M= Men, F= Female, SCS=Second Chance School.The triangulation method was used in the researches of Gravalou (2010) and Papathanasiou (2014).As a result, the results obtained are classified, according to the research tool, as quantitative or qualitative ones.
As shown in Table 1, out of a total of 17 surveys, one is of 2006, three of 2010, two of 2011, one of 2013, two of 2014, three of 2015, and five of 2016.The total sample of trainees in the systematic review is 487 inmates, of which 442 are men and 45 are women.Of the seventeen surveys, the eleven were developed with qualitative methodology, the four with quantitative, while the two with mixed (quantitative and qualitative).
On the basis of the above methodological approaches, as listed in Table 1, they were grouped together.The surveys in which the research tool used was a questionnaire with closed-ended questions were classified as quantitative.If a questionnaire with open questions was used, they were classified as qualitative.Specifically, the analysis of the data for quantitative approach surveys was as follows: Responses were entered as a whole on a spreadsheet of the Microsoft Office Excel 2007 software.
For qualitative surveys, content analysis was selected as a data processing method.We chose to make the following distinction in qualitative surveys: a) purely qualitative, b) quantified qualitative.

Results
The following procedure was followed in the recording of the results: Initially the individual results of the quantitative surveys are presented, then the results of the quantified qualitative and, finally, of the purely qualitative ones.

Motivation for Participating In Educational Programs: Results of Quantitative Surveys
The quantitative surveys in which the incentives to participate in educational programs were investigated are six in total (Gravalou, 2010;Papathanasiou, 2010;Papathanasiou, 2014;Chrysikopoulou, 2015;Musiou, 2016;Stouri, 2016) and the total sample of trainees in these surveys is are 274 inmates.Following are the results (Table 2 and Figure 1).Thus, a high percentage refers to the motivation for education (22%).Most trainees report the acquisition or improvement of knowledge and skills in general as a motivation for participate, while many focus on improving their writing and speaking skills.The rest, in a more emotional account of their speech, report the thirst for learning.In accordance with the aforementioned motivation and as a follow-up, the incentive to acquire qualifications is also recorded (19%).Inmates perceive the value of acquiring an important asset, such as a degree.
Their participation seems to be mainly related to their social and professional reintegration.
9% of the respondents report the beneficial calculation of the penalty (the so called "wages") as motivation to participate in educational programs.The only exception is women in the Chrysikopoulou's (2015) survey, in which no research participant mentions "wages" as an incentive.
Personal improvement is yet another important motivation for inmates (8%).By specifying the concept of self-improvement, there are reports of changing the way of thinking, acquisition of confidence and need for personal fulfillment.
In a percentage of 8% they report other incentives, such as encouragement from personal environment or friendship with other prisoners attending an educational program, as well as the positive experience from attending an educational program.
Of course, and this is perfectly reasonable, there are also incentives of utilitarian nature.Respondents at a percentage of 4% consider that attending an educational program will lead to favorable treatment by the court.

Motivation for Participating In Educational Programs: Results of Quantified Quantitative Surveys
The results of the surveys using the quantified qualitative method are listed below (Table 3 and Figure 2).The sample is 116 participants.Ν=116 (Note that some trainees reported more than one category / subcategory) ies.ccsenet.

Figure
The major to particip Following qualificatio

Note. Num
In these su the so cal prisoners r Also, the i quantitativ  both All trainees recognize their educational 'poverty', so they all report as their motivation the acquisition or improvement in knowledge.For foreigners, motivation is the opportunity given to learn the Greek language.Others report the need for social education that is conquered through social interaction in a pedagogical environment.
The high school certificate and the resulting benefits are an additional incentive for inmates to get involved in the educational process.
Finally, the inmates' need to improve in a personal level and to improve their quality of life when released from prison is an additional incentive for them.

Discussion and Conclusions
The results of the qualitative surveys are in full harmonization and reinforce the results deriving from both quantitative surveys and quantified qualitative surveys.At the same time, they are also supported by the relevant literature.
More specifically, the following main conclusions have emerged from the previous analysis, regarding the main motives mentioned by the inmates for their participation in educational programs: Relief from the prison's suffering: Confinement is the greatest traumatic experience for people who are punished in this way for their delinquent behavior.In prison they experience deprivation of liberty and autonomy, deprivation of goods and services, as well as of personal security (Sykes, 1958).The institutionalization, marginalization and subculture of the prison, to which Toch (1975) refers, create a suffocating environment from which inmates want to escape.Participating in educational programs gives them this possibility to a great extent, as is shown in the results of all surveys.
Education: Although this finding may surprise, the reality is that the overwhelming majority of prisoners have a low educational attainment (Barbatakos, 2010;Spinelli, 2009;Vacca, 2004;Theophilos, 2004) and the fact that they are given the opportunity to acquire or to improve pre-existing knowledge and skills in prison, is extremely important to them.Trainees seem to recognize that under-education is the cause of their unemployment (see also Vergidis, 1995, p. 14) and perhaps of their offending behavior.They believe that they can prepare for life after release (Costelloe, 2003, p. 131) and hope that they will be able, by acquiring knowledge and skills, to open new horizons in their lives.Several also specify their response by stating that they want to improve their writing and speaking skills.
In addition, many inmates report being thirsty for learning and this can be considered normal, as most have dropped out of education for reasons beyond their will.This is confirmed by many surveys (Vergidis, 2004;Vergides et al., 2007).
Reduction in imprisonment time: The so-called "wages" are an important incentive to participate in an education program.Most likely, when prisoners are informed that they are gaining two days' penalty for each day of attending the education program, they seek attendance.Besides, as Manger et al. (2010) report, education alone cannot be an incentive if other incentives do not exist.This finding is found in every survey with small hierarchical differentiations: other respondents report it as a dominant motivator and some others as secondary.
Acquisition of qualifications: The desire for acquiring a school qualification has a positive impact on the attendance and completion of an educational program.Trainees in prison are expecting the certificate to provide them with a "legitimized opportunity for social advancement and be a springboard for differentiated access possibilities" (Ladritsi, 2007, p. 112).This finding is confirmed by Loewen (1997) as well, who highlights preparation for release and continuity of education as the most important motivation for education in prison.Darkenwald and Merriam (1982) report that adult learners are offered the opportunity to successfully negotiate transitions from their social roles (worker, parent etc.).
Self-improvement: It appears that the trainee inmates believe they can change their way of thinking so that they do not engage again in delinquent behavior.Recurrence is their fear and they feel that with education they can defeat their "evil" selves.Also, inmates bearing the stigma of the prisoner which is for most of them a deep sense of shame, they believe that by attending an educational program, they can regain their self-esteem.This finding is also confirmed in research conducted at international level: Parker (1990) states that participation in educational programs increases the inmates' self-esteem.Furthermore, many trainee inmates report that they seek personal fulfillment and obviously mean that by engaging in creative activities they will be given the opportunity to cultivate and develop the positive aspects of their personality.This report is confirmed by Kett (1995) as well.
The remark that needs to be made is that there are differences only in the hierarchy of motivations, which must be considered perfectly normal, because each person has his / her personal perspective when entering a process, in this case the educational process.
There is also a difference in the hierarchy of findings between qualitative and quantitative surveys.An emerging interpretation of this differentiation may be the research tools used, since there are different epistemological principles behind qualitative and quantitative methods.In particular, "The philosophical roots of qualitative research belong to naturalistic philosophies, while quantitative research to the positivistic.The two approaches have a different starting point on the ontological-cognitive level, i.e. regarding the nature of reality" (Saravfidou, 2011, p. 17).
It appears that when starting their studies, their motivation for participating mainly concerns their daily difficulties and the situation they are in.But later on, they prioritize education and their greatest desire is to continue their studies either because they think their social and professional rehabilitation will be easier, or because they want to prove to themselves and their environment that they are "others", or because education "won" them.The "I would like" at the beginning of their studies in the educational programs later becomes "I want", "I can".
With this systematic review we have attempted to obtain a more comprehensive picture about the motivation of adult trainee inmates in Greece to participate in educational programs.The methodological constraint is that we have looked at surveys that have been carried out in Greece and can be found in databases.We believe, however, that it is a useful contribution to future researchers in the field of adult prisoners' education, as well as to a better understanding of the field so that the relevant educational policy can be more effectively defined.In particular, the findings can help improve the planning of future interventions, so that educational programs are more effective, responding to inmates' motivations.It would be interesting to research in the future whether the inmates' participation in educational programs contributes to their reintegration after their release.

Table : Table 1 .
The identity of the researches

Table 3 .
Motivation for participating in educational programs (results of quantified quantitative surveys)