This article argues the case for greater probation service involvement with the literacy needs of offenders under supervision. It draws attention to the high levels of poor literacy amongst offenders and discusses the significance of literacy intervention in relation to current probation objectives. Consideration is given to the need for policy development and changes in both agency procedures and practice perspectives in order to promote a suitable response to the problem.

The development of innovative approaches to probation practice requires the implementation of carefully planned evaluation studies. Here the authors report on the impact of probation induction groups and outline the difficulties of evaluating practice.Though we would reject the adoption of a thoroughly scientific approach to social work practice, we do believe that the formal assessment of programmes that practitioners offer their clients has a pay-off for professional and consumer alike. Thus we jumped at the chance, offered by the Senior of a local Probation Service team, to evaluate the 'induction groups' used as the first stage of that team's involvement with clients. As it turned out, our study had its problems but the signs of promise were clear enough to make us feel that something of value had been achieved. It also seemed to us that our experiences-both the encouraging and the difficult parts of it--could provide some useful pointers for others thinking about carrying out an evaluation study. In what follows we describe the outcome of our own study and discuss some of the problems encountered, with suggestions for minimizing the latter.The team whose programme we studied began using induction groups in 1979 and, at the time of our contact, were running about 8-10 groups a year. The groups were closed, co-led, had a membership of 6-10 clients and ran for six weekly sessions of about an hour and a half each. Most of the team's new clients entered the groups so that they tended to include members with a mixture of ages, offences and number of previous convictions, and were either all-male or malefemale groupings. ClarificationOur initial meeting with the team was to discuss its evaluation interests and to indicate what we could offer. It soon became clear, however, that open-ness and trust needed to be established first of all, and that the discussion could not be hurried. The team naturally wanted to know what our commitment and motivations were and we ourselves wanted to determine whether there was full support for taking a potentially critical look at the induction group programme. We also wanted to know whether any limits would be placed on the publication of any interesting results or findings. These and other matters were later recorded as part of an evaluation contract.

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Using an Induction Group for probationers, pioneered in Bristol ten years ago and now routine practice, the authors evaluate clients' experience of the detailed programme to show how exercises vary in their usefulness in achieving overall objectives, and can be re-shaped to better effect.

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