Cambridge-based edtech company Coracle, which supplies laptops to 93 UK prisons, has just been awarded B Corp status – with a far above average score of 126.5. Coracle’s Founder James Tweed is seeking to transform education for prisoners, seafarers, and other often-forgotten communities. As well as transforming education, this aids the digital transformation of UK prisons.
Tweed is one of the few people licensed by the UK Ministry of Justice to do this work. Tweed founded Coracle and based the firm at Cambridge’s historic Chesterton Mill. The company has a specialised learning platform currently used in over 90 percent of public prisons across England and Wales.
The platform allows secure access to courses ranging from vocational qualifications to higher education, delivered by partners such as the Open University, Aim eLearning and Hatch Digital. Coracle is one of the few companies authorised by the Ministry of Justice and HM Prisons and Probation Service to provide educational laptops to prisoners.
Digital literacy
According to the Prison Reform Trust:
“The cost to the UK of prisoner reoffending is £18.1 billion per year. Employment prospects for released offenders are extremely bleak: 68 per cent were unemployed in the four weeks before custody (81 per cent for men), 47 per cent have no qualifications, and only 4 per cent of women and 11 per cent of men are in work six weeks after their release. Prisoners are often among the most digitally excluded in our society, yet nearly all jobs – from supermarket assistants to construction workers – require digital literacy of at least a basic level. Ever more educational courses are only available online, reducing prisoners’ opportunities to learn.
“The Prisoners’ Education Trust (PET) has argued that digital “remains the essential ingredient that would revolutionise prison education. Without this, the digital divide will become a chasm, as prisoner learners miss out on developing digital literacy skills.”
Coracle
The B Corp certification is awarded to companies that meet high ethical standards in business. Coracle scored 126.5 points, well above the 80 points needed to pass.
Tweed has told Digital Journal he decided to pursue a B Corp certification as he wanted to bring in a formal framework to guide the company as it grows.
Coracle employs 33 people but has plans to grow to 40. It currently operates in the maritime and prison sectors but is also moving into other ‘hard to reach’ sectors such as children excluded from school.
Tweed’s mission
“Companies talk about values but I wanted to ensure it was something real and that we had a framework in place to develop our staff practices, but also our wider environmental, sustainability and ethical positioning. As we grow the team from 33 to 40 this year, it’s also a clear signal to people about the kind of business we are”, Tweed explains.
He adds: “I’d originally assumed B Corp was for consumer brands, but the more I looked, the more it made sense for us. It’s a practical way to track how we’re doing across ethics, sustainability and how we treat people, inside and outside the business.”
The company has been evaluated as particularly strong in its approach to customer impact and support for workers, while also achieving solid scores in governance, community and environmental practices.
Coracle also holds a King’s Award for Enterprise for Promoting Opportunity and is one of a handful of organisations licensed by the Ministry of Justice to provide prisoners with laptops for education. Its platform delivers content from partners including the Open University, Aim eLearning and Hatch Digital.
In terms of the mission, Tweed says: “A word that comes up a lot in our company is ‘hope’. Whether someone’s on a ship in the middle of the ocean or serving time in a UK prison, everyone should have the chance to learn. That’s what our technology is all about, preventing digital exclusion and giving people hope.”
