News

Prison staff trainers from 24 European countries gather in the Estonian Academy of Security Sciences to discuss the future opportunities and challenges of corrections education during a two-day conference.

On 26-27 September, the Academy of Security Sciences hosted the international conference “Lessons Learned: Overcoming Challenges in Teaching – the strategies and solutions of effective education”. The conference was participated by the members of European Penitentiary Training Academies Network (EPTA) with altogether 70 people from 24 European countries.

“The aim of EPTA is to exchange sectoral knowledge as the training of prison staff varies considerably from one country to another. The Estonian Academy of Security Sciences joined the network in 2018 and last year we were asked to take the presidency, so we have had the honour to be the chairman of EPTA since November 2022 and one part of it is also the organisation of the annual conference,” the Director of the College of Justice Laura Kikas explains.

“The training provided by the College of Justice is well known and recognised in Europe. We might even say that we have been honoured with the title “one of the best in Europe”. The system created by us is something that many countries would like to strive for and learn from us. So, the conference at the Estonian Academy of Security Sciences has been awaited for years already and it is our pleasure to allow others to take a peek at our instruction and topic,” Kikas added.

From the network’s point of view, the annual conference is the most important event of the year. Institutions working in the field of prison staff training of all countries come together to exchange experience, discuss cooperation, to learn and experience. This year, the conference focused on international cooperation and one of the acutest current issues – artificial intelligence in instruction. On these two days, the workshops will tackle the topics of prison staff teaching methods, learning environment, future skills and on-the-job learning. It is great that the Academy has so many competent people who we can rely on in conducting the workshops!

The Estonian Academy of Security Sciences is a unique higher education institution in the entire world as the instruction of all specialities related to internal security is in one organisation. The Academy provides education for internal security specialists on vocational, professional higher education and Master’s level. The College of Justice provides prison staff training on vocational and higher education level.