The education of convicted persons is a highly specific process and quite unlike any educational practices in the community. Inmates have a lower motivation as a consequence of their system of values, addiction problems, as well as previous negative experiences at school or learning difficulties faced at the correction house. Experience shows that some specific groups of inmates find it especially difficult to adapt in a tradition educational environment. They include national minorities, foreign nationals, younger-aged inmates, etc. The nature of the operation of correction facilities is also a factor impairing the efficiency of training activities. One such factor is the frequent transfers of inmates, which is disruptive to the continuity of learning. At the same time, the reduction of sentences demotivates inmates to join vocational training, and any ongoing training is often left unfinished as a result of earlier discharge from prison, etc. To address these specific problems-unknown to educational institutions in the community-the personnel organising and conducting the training of inmates requires some specific competences that cannot be acquired in Lithuania due to the isolation of the Lithuanian penal system and the special status of the Panevėžys Correction House as the country's only correctional institution for women. In an effort to meet these specific needs of the personnel, the educational mobility project entitled Increasing the Competence of Vocational Education Professionals Working With Prisoners has been initiated. The project will be implemented by a consortium of institutions organising or conducting the vocational training of inmates, including the Panevėžys Correction House (project coordinator), the Panevėžys Centre of Vocational Education, the Panevėžys Labour Market Training Centre and the Panevėžys Adult School. The principal objective of the project is to increase the competence of vocational education professionals working with inmates with a view to raising the inmates' motivation for lifelong learning and developing their business aptitude. The following strategies underlie the project's objective: 1. To investigate the methods used to ensure access to education at foreign penal institutions; 2. To examine the range of training activities offered at penal institutions, with a focus on developing generic competences and vocational skills as a way to improve the inmates' business aptitude; 3. To investigate the techniques (methods) used to increase the learning motivation of persons belonging to national minorities and younger inmates (aged 16-29); 4. To explore ways of creating a positive learning environment for foreign nationals serving prison sentences; 5. To explore ways of organising and conducting training activities for persons serving short sentences; 6. To assess the experience of foreign countries in organising and conducting inmate training and to explore ways of implementing the experience in the Lithuanian penal system. The project will provide for three training visits (for groups of 5 persons) to partner institutions abroad (Germany, Romania and Italy), during which the visitors will observe-and, where possible, assist in-inmate training conducted at penal or educational institutions. The foreign partner organisations have been selected in accordance with their experience in conducting such projects as well as their capacities for conducting a range of diverse activity monitoring events in line with the goals and objectives of the project. The project starts on 1 June 2014 and ends 31 May 2015. It will be supervised by a project management group at the Panevėžys Correction House in collaboration with the personnel delegated by project partners (both in Lithuania and abroad). The improvements in the qualifications of the staff gained during the project's implementation will not only help improve the quality of vocational training delivered at the Panevėžys Correction House, but will also make it possible to broaden the range of training services offered with a view to addressing the individual needs and capacities of each inmate. This will increase the motivation of the inmates to learn and gain the professional knowledge and skills required for them to join the labour market, start a business and successfully integrate in the community after their release. The experience garnered during the project's execution will be widely disseminated in the form of published guidelines for the improvement of inmate education and training, with an emphasis on addressing the needs of the more vulnerable groups of inmates, raising the inmates' motivation and developing their business aptitude.