VEPS project

Virtual European Prison School (2007-2008)
Reference Number: 133878-2007-NO-GRUNDTVIG-GMP

The Virtual European Prison School (VEPS) Project was developed through the Lifelong Learning Program – Grundtvig Multilateral Projects of the European Union. The project’s broad aims were to increase participation and widen access to education in European prisons. Its primary actions involved the transnational transfer of best existing practice and the establishment of a web-based Virtual Prison School.

The project lasted from October 2007 to December 2008 and involved a wide range of prison educators from across Europe. The coordinating partner was European Prison Education Association (EPEA). The other project partners were prison education services, organisations and bodies from Bulgaria, Czech Republic, England, France, Greece, Ireland, Norway and Sweden.

Financing the project

The estinated total eligeble cost is EUR 62.800,00 and the Commission contribute a maximum of EUR 40.341,00, equivalent to 64,24% of the estimted total cost.

The aims of the project

The main objectives of this project are

to take stock of all projects supported under Grundtvig, Comenius, Lingua whose objectives concerns concrete aspects of prison education
to give a high profile to the best practices and project products
to draw a general conclusion from all projects
to disseminate the results of previous projects among prison educators and other involved in prison education on the International Conference “Challenges for European Prison Education”

to assess the conference and disseminating activities at national / local level
to organize an experience-sharing and stock-taking session among all closed or running projects concerning the education in prisons and supported within the framework of the Socrates program.
to prepare a Conference Report including the collected projects, their results and the best practices
to evaluate the impact of an around activity at national / local level

About VEPS

The EPEA was directly involved in a number of projects supported in the 2000-2013 period, notably the ambitious VEPS project referred to above. This initiative was coordinated by the Association itself through its Bulgarian-based European Projects Officer, Valentina Petrova, who played a particularly important role in stimulating the Association’s European project involvement during the first decade of this century, and included as partners a number of important national-level ‘players’ in Prison Education in the Czech Republic, France, Greece, Ireland, Norway, Sweden and the UK. Through the development of a mutually available forum and multilingual teaching materials, the project sought – as its name suggests – to create a “Virtual prison school” which would transcend national borders and boost the participation rate of prisoners in lifelong learning across Europe.

Alan Smith

Former coordinator of the Grundtvig programme