In Swansea University we have a long-standing interest in the effectiveness of probation practice and have made a number of contributions to the ‘What Works?’ literature, including an early evaluation of a cognitive-behavioural programme (Raynor and Vanstone 1997)...
The impact of skills in probation work: A reconviction study
This article reports on the results of a quasi-experimental study of practitioners’ skills in probation work. Videotaped interviews were produced by a group of probation officers and analysed by researchers using a checklist designed to identify the range of skills...
Observing Interview Skills: a manual for users of the Jersey Supervision Interview Checklist
This manual is a product of the research on supervision skills and offender engagement currently being carried out by Swansea University staff in collaboration with the Jersey Probation and After-Care Service. This is one of a number of studies done by Swansea...
What matters is what you do: The rediscovery of skills in probation practice
This article discusses the recent emergence of practice skills or ‘core correctional practices’ as a focus for research and staff development in probation work. Starting with the gradual discovery of an empirical approach to practitioners’ use of skills, the article...
Moving Away from Social Work and Half Way Back Again: New Research on Skills in Probation
Research on social work in the criminal justice system was well represented in the social work literature until the 1990s. Since then, changes in the organisation, training and research base of probation practice, particularly in England and Wales, have all...