News
The Mike Batty Award 2011
24/01/2012
On 8th December 2011 the Mike Batty Award was presented to Daniel Whyte in HMP Wellingborough.
This annual award is open to all students in prison or secure accommodation in the East Midlands. It is presented to the student who has shown the most outstanding level of academic achievement during the previous 12 months.
In August 2011, all of the OU tutors in The East Midlands who currently teach in prison were asked to nominate anyone that they wanted to be considered for the award. 7 nominations were made. Even though it was a very close run thing, Daniel was chosen by the selection panel. The six runners-up were presented with a certificate to mark their achievement.
In essence, the award is presented in recognition of Mike Batty's extensive work in the region's prisons, and to acknowledge of all the fantastic work carried out by students and staff in education departments in The East Midlands.
On receiving the award, Daniel wrote the following:
What Open University Study Means To Me:
I have been an OU student for a few years now and every year my studies mean that bit more to me. When I started with the OU I was motivated and eager to learn, but I was directionless. I didn't know what I wanted from my studies - other than a degree - and I had no ideas what it could do for me.
I am a lifer, and as such have a lot of hard days in prison. I also was a very different person when I first came to prison. Although I knew then that I had to change my life, I had no real idea what that meant or how to go about it. The skills I needed to study with the OU - self motivation, discipline, determination and steadfastness - only stated to manifest themselves in me as I encountered problems, whereby my studies clashed with prison regimes and life. The thought of not reaching my goal made me more determined and as I put more into my studies I saw the benefits as I received my results.
I don't think it would be an exaggeration to say that the OU has saved my life. The change in me has come from a change in my mindset, not just my actions. The more I learned, the more I realised there was more the life. Also the more I learned, the more I realised I was capable of doing something else and that I could truly change who I was, and not just pay lip service to it
Studying the with OU has literally changed my life and I implore any prisoner with a big sentence to study with the OU; it is life-changing.
Shaun McMann
Student Services Manager
The Open University In The East Midlands
Show all news