Re-thinking impact, evaluation and accountability in youth work

拟议的研究将调查青年工作中评价和问责的政策和做法。它将与年轻人、青年工作者、管理人员、资助者和政策制定者/影响者合作，了解影响衡量的效果，并制定符合青年工作实践的评估方法。青年工作可以改变被边缘化的年轻人的生活，发展社会和文化机会，并为更广泛的社区利益做出贡献。它在青年俱乐部、社区建筑和街道上进行，向所有人开放，或针对有共同受压迫经历的群体(例如年轻妇女、男女同性恋、双性恋和变性者青年、年轻难民)。它植根于“自愿原则”(即，这是年轻人选择参加的原则)，使权力动态比学校和正规社会服务更平等。近年来，开支削减导致许多地方政府青年服务和慈善项目关闭。在此背景下，2011年下议院教育特别委员会的一项调查要求英格兰的青年组织通过制定更明确的成果措施来证明他们工作的价值。因此，在政府和有影响力的第三部门组织的推动下，出现了一项新的青年影响议程，以促进衡量青年环境中的影响。虽然青年影响议程受到许多青年部门机构的欢迎，但一些从业人员组织认为，衡量预先确定的成果与青年工作不一致。影响与对计划结果的定量测量有关，例如通过“事前和事后”试验或随机对照试验。然而，众所周知，个人和社会发展很难衡量，影响工具本身可能不适合青年工作环境：例如，询问青年态度或行为的问卷可能具有侵入性，特别是在青年参与的早期。在以社区为基础的开放式青年工作环境中，影响的衡量尤其具有挑战性，因为结果是随着时间的推移逐渐产生的，而不是预先确定的。青年影响议程迅速变得有影响力，但我们对其在开放式青年工作环境中是如何实施的，或它对实践产生了什么影响知之甚少。这一点很重要：如果资金与影响的量化衡量挂钩，那么开放式青年工作就很难根据这些衡量标准证明其价值，而一个多世纪建立起来的宝贵实践传统可能会丢失。对年轻人如何体验和感知影响机制的了解更少；年轻人不是一个同质的群体，可能是一些群体的年轻人从反思自己的结果中获得满足感，而另一些群体可能会认为与影响相关的提问具有侵扰性和反感。这项为期三年的研究项目将涉及146名参与者，包括定性访谈、焦点小组、参与者观察和青年参与方法(摄影、同行访谈和电影制作)。它将查明青年影响议程是如何在实践中实施的，以及青年和青年工作者如何经历和感知影响进程。它将包括资助机构和政策制定者的观点，并探讨如何以及为什么‘青年影响’在这个时候变得如此重要。研究成果将在同行评议的期刊、会议报告和研讨会上分享，以讨论政策和在更广泛的社会部门的影响。调查结果将通过以下方式广泛传播：(由青年制作和传播)一部短片；由实践者、管理者、资助者和政策制定者/影响者参加的一系列讨论；政策和实践简报；以及实践者会议，以分享与公开青年工作相一致的评价和问责办法。

The proposed research will investigate the policy and practice of evaluation and accountability in youth work. It will collaborate with young people, youth workers, managers, funders and policy makers/influencers, to understand the effects of impact measurement, and develop approaches to evaluation that are congruent with youth work practice.Youth work can be life-changing for marginalised young people, developing social and cultural opportunities and contributing to wider community benefits. It takes place in youth clubs, community buildings and on the streets, and is open to all, or aimed at groups with shared experiences of oppression (e.g. young women, LGBT young people, young refugees). It is rooted in the 'voluntary principle' (i.e. that it is young people's choice to take part), enabling a more equal power dynamic than that in schools and formal social services. In recent years, spending reductions have led to the closure of many local government youth services and charitable projects. In this context, a 2011 House of Commons Education Select Committee inquiry asked youth organisations in England to demonstrate the value of their work by developing clearer outcomes measures. In response, a new youth impact agenda has emerged, instigated by government and influential third sector organisations, to promote the measurement of impact in youth settings. While the youth impact agenda has been welcomed by many youth sector bodies, some practitioner organisations have argued that measuring predefined outcomes is inconsistent with youth work. Impact is associated with the quantitative measurement of planned outcomes, such as through 'pre and post' tests or randomised control trials. However, personal and social development are notoriously difficult to measure, and impact tools themselves can be inappropriate in youth work settings: for example, questionnaires asking young people about their attitudes or behaviour can be intrusive, particularly early on in a young person's engagement. Impact measurement is particularly challenging in community-based open youth work settings, where outcomes emerge gradually over time rather than being pre-defined.The youth impact agenda has quickly become influential, yet we know little about how it has been implemented in open youth work settings, or what effects it has had on practice. This is important: if funding is tied to quantitative measures of impact, then it will be difficult for open youth work to demonstrate its value according to those measures, and a valuable tradition of practice built up over more than a century might be lost. Even less is known about how young people experience and perceive impact mechanisms; young people are not a homogeneous group, and it could be that some groups of young people gain satisfaction from reflecting on their outcomes, while others might find impact-related questioning intrusive and off-putting.This three-year research project will involve 146 participants in qualitative interviews, focus groups, participant observations and youth participatory methods (photography, peer interviewing and film-making). It will find out how the youth impact agenda is implemented in practice, and how impact processes are experienced and perceived by young people and youth workers. It will include the perspectives of funding agencies and policy makers, and explore how and why 'youth impact' has become so important at this time. Research findings will be shared in peer-reviewed journals, conference presentations, and a symposium to discuss policy and impact in the wider social sector. Findings will be disseminated widely through a short film (made and disseminated by young people); a series of deliberative discussions involving practitioners, managers, funders and policy makers/influencers; policy and practice briefings; and a practitioner conference to share approaches to evaluation and accountability that are congruent with open youth work.