Those of us in the consultancy game, particularly around evaluation, like to think that when we write conclusions and recommendations, someone listens to them and does something about them.
I have experienced the glow from time to time of having my findings reflected back to me - most recently on a wonderful project called Business Brokers in North Staffordshire. There, with a colleague and working under the Inspira Consulting banner, we did an extensive mid-term evaluation of the programme to help them meet their contracted targets and also help them think about the future beyond their funding contract and how they could ensure the sustainability of the service. In the last three months, we have gone back and done the final evaluation of the funded programme, looking at contract performance and also at how our recommendations were followed up. They had done extremely well in achieving their contracted outputs and have found ways to maintain the service, albeit at a lower level, but then at the moment, they have less funding. Whether it was polishing our egos or not, they did say more than once, "following your advice we looked at this" or "we have done this".
However in education matters, this is often far less the case. My impression has been that decisions are made as knee-jerk reactions, without letting the previous set of changes embed themselves and demonstrate worth, and due to the loudest set of shouting in the media. I am not totally sure how often Apprenticeships have been re-branded since they were reintroduced in the late 90s, but the myriad brands have not helped employers or prospective employers identify with the product. Similarly, new qualifications are brought in and then dropped at the drop of a hat - who remembers GNVQs? And if you have one, how do you explain it to people now?
It seems that my impressions are not totally without foundation for once as well. This article on the BBC website heralds a report that says just that - politicians do not look at the evidence when changing education policy and practice. For those of us who have recently been following the mantra of "evidence based policy making", this will be something of a shock, but then - are politicians going to take any notice of this report either?
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