Soft skills and employability. A challenge for penitentiary pedagogy

Abstract

The labour training of inmates in penitentiary centres should play a central role in their process of re-education and social reintegration, in light of the precepts of the Spanish legislation. Precisely, this question is even more relevant in the context of globalization in which our society is immersed, where the labour market is increasingly demanding workers capable of responding to the new requirements of the business fabric. In this article we defend the need for the vocational guidance and training programmes carried out in prisons to promote the development of soft skills, which are essential for the access to a job and its maintenance. To this end, the characteristics of the participants of these programs have been analysed, deepening into the contextual, formative-professional, and occupational variables that have an impact on this process. Lastly, the labour training of the Spanish prisons has been examined, in order to determine whether it develops those competences that have been associated with employability. We conclude that soft skills are not sufficiently promoted in the occupational training developed in prison, also highlighting that it is strongly recommended to start considering the contextual and structural variables that are likely to condition their social and labour reintegration.