OCR wins Ministry of Justice contract for ICT in prisons

OCR wins Ministry of Justice contract for ICT in prisons 31 January 2018

OCR has been chosen by the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) to provide ICT qualifications to adult learners in England's prisons from August 2018. 

OCR was successful in its bid to be the exclusive provider of qualifications in this subject area which is crucial for employability and everyday life. 

The contract reflects the breadth of OCR's 'Computing' (ICT, Digital Literacy and Computer Science) qualification range. Centres providing prison education will be able to choose from OCR's Entry Level to Level 3 qualification range which includes Functional Skills, IT User Skills (ITQ), Cambridge Technicals, GCSE and A Level. This offers both vocational and academic options to suit all learners.

Peter Canning, OCR Product Director, said: "The majority of prisons already use OCR qualifications and prison learning is an important sector we support and understand well. We are delighted to be able to bring our expertise to make sure ICT qualifications can be delivered to learners as easily as possible with a package of flexible and high level support. We believe it's vital that prisoners have the opportunity to develop their ICT skills and have their learning recognised."

OCR is one of four awarding bodies given contracts by the Ministry of Justice to provide qualifications across a total of seven subject areas. This is part of the reform of prison education first announced in 2016. The new contracts were confirmed by the MOJ in January 2018. OCR will continue to provide a range of qualifications to prisons in areas outside the MOJ contracts, such as Business, Sport and Performing Arts.  

OCR has many years' experience of working with prisons and is looking forward to supporting new and existing centres during this exciting period of transition. To explore OCR's Computing qualifications, along with our free and extensive resources, take a look here. To get in touch, call or email us via 01223 553998 or general.qualifications@ocr.org.uk so we can help to support you and your learners.