Crannog ServicesSteve McCreadie, Assistant regional

director

Aberlour Child Care Trust

Our challenge

• Youth Crime audit findings 2002• Gaps in provision• Gaps in knowledge and expertise• Young people with complex range of risk

factors including school exclusion and poor educational attainment

Aberlour Child Care Trust

Opportunities

• Youth Crime Prevention fund• Role of Voluntary sector• Newly developing area of work• Partnership approaches seen to be more

relevant

Aberlour Child Care Trust

Creativity and critical reflection

• How do we improve service delivery and capacity?

• What do we know?• What don’t we know?• What don’t we know that we don’t know?• Who can help us?

Aberlour Child Care Trust

Creativity and critical refection

• Dialogue with Edinburgh University• Rigorous and ongoing relationship to

improve practice• Data collection and analysis by ‘critical

friend’• Direct link with practice, leadership and

management

Aberlour Child Care Trust

What did it look like?

• Data collection and reporting• Data analysis• Practice seminars with Edinburgh

University, practitioners and managers • Reports to stakeholders• Continuous process….false summits!

Aberlour Child Care Trust

What did it feel like?

• Painful• Challenging• Creative• Productive• Rewarding

Aberlour Child Care Trust

What did it produce?

• Improved assessment, planning and outcome measurement system, endorsed by Edinburgh university

• Better practice with and outcomes for young people

• Better knowledge nationally about specific practice issues

• Better knowledge about how to evaluate our work

Aberlour Child Care Trust

What did it produce?

• Increased credibility with stakeholders• Culture of continuous learning and

improvement• Pressure on practitioners and managers• Knowledge about how to collect and analyse

data

Aberlour Child Care Trust

What did we learn about evaluation?

• Action research is a powerful tool• Some evaluations are limited in how they

impact practice• The more you publish, the more ‘vulnerable’

you are• More effective when built into the fabric with

practitioners, middle and senior managers all involved

Aberlour Child Care Trust

What did we learn about evaluation?

• Practitioners and managers must be fully committed and need expertise in evaluation techniques

• Skill in outcome description, measurement and analysis is crucial

• Intelligent service design, delivery and commissioning needs good analysis of evaluation studies