Most of our volunteers either teach a class with us or tutor in one of our partner facilities. We do our largest recruitment in the spring (March/April) for the following academic year, though we also do more targeted recruitment in October/November to fill in gaps for the following spring semester. Please review the qualifications below to see if you’d be a good fit for our program, and if you’re interested, fill out the information form so we can add you to our prospective volunteers email list! All Volunteers All volunteers should display an exceptional degree of compassion, empathy, and patience for working with non-traditional students. PTI supports volunteers’ development in these areas, so as long as you’re willing to learn, we’re willing to help! Volunteers should try to forget what they’ve learned about prison culture on TV and in the media. Much of it infantilizes our students and creates unfair prejudices against and assumptions about them. It also frequently establishes the dominant population as the “savior” and the incarcerated population as those needing to be saved. We will offer lots of resources that help challenge those narratives! Instructors All instructors must meet the following minimum qualifications to teach with PTI: For most disciplines, you must have completed at least 5 graduate-level courses in the discipline you wish to teach. You may have completed these courses as an undergraduate or as a part of an accredited graduate certificate or continuing education program. (Many of our math instructors come from engineering or physics disciplines, while interdisciplinary fields like gender studies and religion may allow leeway in specific coursework, as long as volunteers have completed significant research or scholarship activities centered on those topics.) While prior teaching experience is not required, instructors should be comfortable working on a team. Team dynamics are a critical part of PTI’s operations. Tutors All tutors must meet the following minimum qualifications to teach with PTI: Tutors should have completed at least two years of undergraduate study. We prefer volunteers who have completed a bachelor’s degree but will consider active students, as well. While prior tutoring experience is not required, tutors should be willing to commit to ongoing professional development. PTI provides many opportunities to learn how to support students in the prison classroom. Graders & Course Development Team Members Graders and course development team members do not need to have prior experience in these roles, but they should meet the following minimum qualifications: Either be enrolled in college or have completed at least two years of undergraduate study. Be comfortable working in teams.
