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Local Evaluation of Children's Services Learning from the Children's ...

Local Evaluation of Children's Services Learning from the Children's ...

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IntroductionAims, scope and methodsThere is a growing academic and policy literature on developments in thinking abouthow evaluation contributes to evidence based policy and practice. Traditional‘hierarchies’ <strong>of</strong> research and evaluation methods that endorse experimental andquantitative methods are being set aside in favour <strong>of</strong> combined quantitative andqualitative methods for evaluating complex social policy initiatives. The importance <strong>of</strong>embracing <strong>the</strong> experiences, perspectives and accounts <strong>of</strong> all stakeholders includingservice users and children and young people, and making evaluation findingsaccessible to multiple audiences, not just pr<strong>of</strong>essionals and academics, have beenimportant developments in thinking on evaluation. There is also a growingunderstanding <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> complex ways evaluation may (or may not) be used by policymakers and practitioners.This report considers <strong>the</strong> local evaluation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Children’s Fund, a national initiativethat fully embraces <strong>the</strong> importance <strong>of</strong> evaluation in supporting partnerships to assessand develop <strong>the</strong>ir programmes <strong>of</strong> work. The nature and complexity <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> initiativedoes, however, present a number <strong>of</strong> methodological and practical challenges toevaluators. One challenge is <strong>the</strong> highly divergent strategies and practices required at<strong>the</strong> local level, to tackle what are complex, multi-layered and long-term issues <strong>of</strong>social exclusion. This makes it particularly difficult to assess <strong>the</strong> effectiveness <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>initiative using traditional evaluation methods (Edwards & Fox, 2005). Suchchallenges have resulted in pragmatic creativity in <strong>the</strong> ways local evaluations havesought to demonstrate outcomes and support Children’s Fund partnerships’ planningin a context <strong>of</strong> rapid national and local policy change. The aim <strong>of</strong> this report is toreview <strong>the</strong> range <strong>of</strong> approaches adopted by local evaluators as well asacknowledging some <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> tensions and compromises that have characterised <strong>the</strong>irwork. The report focuses on exploring four major <strong>the</strong>mes:• The roles, orientations and principles <strong>of</strong> local evaluators;• The evaluation methods that have been adopted by local evaluations;• The ways local evaluations have sought to support partnerships’ decisionmaking;• Key messages emerging <strong>from</strong> local evaluators’ reports and <strong>the</strong> ways localevaluators have sought to understand <strong>the</strong> underpinning <strong>the</strong>mes <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>Introduction 1

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