The Box e-learning – an update

It’s been just over two years since we launched The Box e-learning and we wanted to update you on the impact it’s having, not just in the UK, but around the world.

Hopefully you are all aware of The Box – a free online modular box of learning for professionals working in the criminal justice sector. It’s designed to help professionals to identify clients who may need support with speech, language and communication, understand how this might impact on their clients and learn how to improve their interaction with individuals for better outcomes. It was developed as part of the RCSLT’s justice campaign.

Global reach

The Box has had 1,513 sign ups since its launch, with learners coming from a range of settings and countries.

People have signed up from across the world – including the US, Australia and New Zealand, India, Egypt and even Singapore!

We were also approached by a team from Finland interested in doing a similar project, with research funded by their Ministry of Justice. They are looking at speech-language intervention for young offenders with communication challenges and are interested in the approach used for The Box.

Meanwhile, Unlocked Graduates, a leadership development scheme for graduates and career changers to become prison officers, has licensed the content from us to use on their own training platform. And we have just been approached by a medical training provider in India to do the same – CMEpedia is a site which brings together training material to offer colleagues in the developing world similar access to medical knowledge as their counterparts in the developed world.

Impact

According to our evaluation, the course has increased people’s confidence in supporting clients with speech, language and communication needs. After taking the course 70% said they feel ‘confident’ and 24% ‘very confident’ (5% answered ‘N/A’ as they already support people with SLCN).

44% of respondents rated their knowledge of speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) as ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ prior to taking the course, which increased to 95% rating their knowledge as ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ afterwards.

99% of those who completed the survey would recommend The Box to colleagues.

How would you have rated your knowledge of speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) before taking the e-learning?

How would you rate your knowledge of SLCN after taking the e-learning?

Impact in our national influencing work

We have used The Box in our engagement with the Ministry of Justice and the Youth Justice Board. The Ministry of Justice has added it to their learning guidance for prison officers in learning difficulties and learning disabilities. It was used to illustrate the range of communication needs that people may experience and to show that with adjustments to your interaction you can improve the environment in which you work. The Youth Justice Board have added it to their portal of good practice examples. Both of these successes show how well received it has been by national policy officials.

What’s next?

As part of its Sentencing White Paper published in September, the Ministry of Justice is discussing with the RCSLT about how to support staff to better understand and respond to people with communication needs across the justice system. The Box will form a major part of our discussions.

Find out more about The Box training in our learning section or go straight to the RCSLT CPD system to register.