Background: the role of the CPS
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is the Government Department responsible for prosecuting people in England and Wales who have been charged with a criminal offence. The CPS have 7,700 staff across 42 geographical areas, which are aligned with the boundaries of the police authorities and headquarters. Some 3,000 of the staff are lawyers and the CPS could be described as the biggest law firm in the country – it is certainly the biggest recruiter of lawyers, recruiting up to 400 lawyers with a range of experience in any given year.
Technical legal knowledge is of critical importance. New legislation is appearing continually and CPS staff need to keep abreast of complex legislation and understand its consequences as quickly as possible. Given this need for instantaneous and accurate updating, e-learning has attractions as a means of delivery. In 2002 the CPS commissioned and deployed a bespoke e-learning module 'Speaking up for Justice'. This considered the consequences of a Home Office report on the treatment of vulnerable and intimidated witnesses. This was intended to be part of a blended solution involving e-learning and classroom elements; it was also intended to be made available to partners across the criminal justice system.
The experience of Speaking up for Justice has convinced the CPS that it is only customised e-learning material that will be valued within the organisation. However, it is now recognised that this first module was insufficiently rigorous in its technical content (this is essential in a legal environment), insufficiently interactive, and there was not enough support given to the module. Sharron Hughes, E-Learning Manager at the CPS, regards this last point as critical. In her words:
“Don’t put anything online if you don’t want to support it.”
The lawyer induction modules
In 2005 the CPS established an on-line Prosecution College. This is organised into a number of faculties, each of which offer a series of on-line modules.
The first range of programmes that were developed and tested were components for lawyer induction. Here the modules concentrate on technical subjects like the Bail Act, identification, custody and evidence. Completion of these modules, which will take approximately four hours, is compulsory for all newly-recruited lawyers before they attend classroom sessions.
Support and monitoring is provided by line managers and internal Lawyer Induction tutors. However, there are clear standards on what is to be expected and these are issued to all learners with the name of their immediate manager identified. Most importantly, induction appears in the performance targets that are set for CPS areas. Such learning and development targets were introduced for the first time in April 2005 and are reviewed on a quarterly basis.
One other interesting approach to embedding their use within the organisation is a feature of the design of the modules themselves. At some stages learners are presented with a scenario: an example would be an outline of an exchange that has taken place between a suspected shoplifter, a store detective and a police officer. The learner is invited to submit a short free-form text commentary on the exchange, highlighting its conformance to the CPS guidelines. This commentary is sent immediately to the learning and development team who forward the individual’s assembled commentaries to one of 80 internal tutors or mentors who are employed by the CPS. These tutors have committed to respond to the learner within a certain time period (five days).
The CPS approach
There are three principles that underpin the CPS approach to developing e-learning:
- effective e-learning products should be customised or bespoke rather than generic
- any e-learning material must be adequately supported
- e-learning should be an integral part of the wider organisational objectives
The CPS Learning and Development Team is firmly of the view that unsupported, generic material made available on a user-choice basis is unlikely to make a significant contribution to the wider training effort.
The CPS has aimed for what they describe as medium technology. Although they incorporate audio commentary at some stages, and quizzes and scenarios, they do not adopt high-level graphics or interactive facilities. This choice reflects a view on both what the CPS technology infrastructure will support and what is acceptable for the learner in that framework. The material included within the modules is specified by an internal CPS expert and the CPS Learning and Development Team, and production is undertaken by Futuremedia, a Brighton-based e-learning consultancy.
Costs of production at this level works out at about £16,000 an hour of module time – low-level interaction would cost about £11,000 and high-level about twice as much as low-level. Current feedback on the modules is positive and efforts are now focussed on their use in the organisation rather than on improving their design.
Sharing with a wider audience
A number of other modules are under production and some of these will be of particular value to partner organisations in the criminal justice system. One example is a module on the proceeds of crime that will be of value to those involved in asset recovery. Another concerns the care of witnesses that are of particular value to the police.
The CPS intends to give all appropriate parties access to the Prosecution College via the Internet. However, the monitoring and support – considered essential to effective learning – must be conducted by the user organisations.
Sharron Hughes feels that Senior Management are convinced of the value of e-learning and the Prosecution College is now seen as an essential element in learning provision. She envisages no great changes in the pattern of e-learning, but a gradual growth until it provides between half and three-quarters of learning time. They are currently assembling data on the extent of take-up, but with 5,000 users she estimates that they are perhaps half-way to their target usage. In her words:
“We must carry on the way we are and show the business the value of e-learning. We will however never replace the need for face-to-face interpersonal skills for topics like advocacy”.
Other initiatives under development at the Prosecution College include:
- a features and articles session on the Prosecution College home page. Podcasts may be piloted in 2007
- the gradual extension of external access. This will be mainly organisations that fall into the category of Law Officer Departments under the Attorney General. Discussions are on-going with the Bar Council and there is growing international interest;
- more emphasis on pre-course assessment and post-course assessment
- renewed efforts to determine the most appropriate techniques for evaluation