Evaluation of The Next Practice in Education Programme

Aporia Consulting were commissioned to undertake an evaluation of the Next Practice in Education Programme and produced three evaluation bulletins. The evaluation team was led by Dr. Lorna Earl, Director of Aporia Consulting Ltd and a recently retired Head of the International Centre for Educational Change at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. She was supported by Dr. Perrie Ballantyne and Julie Temperley.

Evaluation Focus

The principal focus for the evaluation was the Next Practice methodology, its implementation and its effects for participants. This means that the team evaluated the design of the programme, the principles and theory that underpin it as well as the logic that informs the way that the theory and principles are interpreted in practice. They looked at the different ways that each element of the Next Practice model has been realised within the four projects (System Leadership, Resourcing Personalisation, Communities for Learning and Parents/Carers).

The remit was to evaluate the extent to which the Next Practice in Education Programme support has stimulated, incubated and accelerated innovation in different ways across all of the Field Trial sites.

Evaluation Bulletins

Bulletin 1 (November 2007) will shortly be available to download from here.

Bulletin 2 (March 2008) will shortly be available to download from here.

Bulletin 3 (May 2008) will shortly be available to download from here.

Self Evaluation Activity Toolkit

As part of the evaluation process, Field Trial sites undertook a self evaluation exercise. 

Aporia Consulting designed the self evaluation process for the Field Trial sites to chronicle and reflect on their progress and offer their insights about the Next Practice model. Based on this exercise and the feedback from participants, a Self Evaluation Activity toolkit was developed and is available to download from the Toolkits page.