Evaluation Reports

Old Bell 3, in association with Dateb, was commissioned by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) of the Welsh Government (WG) to undertake a formative evaluation of the Welsh for Adults (WfA) Programme.

Here you can download the Evaluation of the National Youth Service Strategy for Wales.

Previous research had shown that there are wide variations in attainment between minority ethnic groups. The most significant factor is level of proficiency in English for those whose English is an additional language. This review explores the effectiveness and impact of the Grant and makes recomme ...

This document sets out the findings into a report on the wide and complex range of careers services in Wales. Whilst recognising that there is much good practice within the range of provision in schools, FE colleges, Higher Education and Careers Wales, the Report identifies the need for services to ...

Chwarae Teg is a pan-Wales organisation created to maximise women’s contribution to the Welsh economy. Initially established as a consortium of public sector agencies, it is now a free standing company limited by guarantee with charitable status. Chwarae Teg’s head office is in Cardiff and it has a ...

The evaluation reports on the achievements of Flying Start in terms of the conditions necessary for the effective delivery of support for disadvantaged children. The report considers the extent to which positive outcomes have been achieved for children and families in Flying Start areas in qualitat ...

In April 2009, the Department for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills commissioned York Consulting, in association with Old Bell 3, to undertake research to inform the implementation of the Learning and Skills Measure. The broad aims of the research were to focus on the likely impacts ...

This report covers the findings of the Work Based Learning Learner Voice Survey.

This report covers the findings of the Further Education Learner Voice Survey. In total, 5,742 further education learners were interviewed between 9 March and 24 April 2009.

The National Practitioners’ Training Programme aims to create an increase in the pool of practitioners able to teach through the medium of Welsh. This will increase the number of learning opportunities in the medium of Welsh, in all parts of Wales, as envisaged by Iaith Pawb.

This report presents the findings from the qualitative evaluation of Flying Start, which examines the user experience and outcomes of Flying Start for families.

This report evaluates the effectiveness of Cymorth and Flying Start and identifies their impact on children and families.

This report outlines the key findings to emerge during the evaluation, drawing on the research and fieldwork carried out by the evaluation team. It considers the performance and impact of the Sgiliaith/CYDAG partnership in relation to the objectives included in the contract held between us and the ...

This report presents the findings of an evaluation conducted by Arad Consulting on the management of the National Year of Reading in Wales 2008. It also sets out proposals on how activities provided during the Year might be further developed to promote reading.

This document evaluates the Speech and Language Service Pilot Projects across Wales.

This evaluation looks at the effectiveness, impact and value for money of the Credit and Qualifications Framework (CQFW) project to date.

The evaluation of the Community Learning Account pilot has involved individual evaluations of each pilot and a collective evaluation of the overall approach.

The aims of this evaluation are to develop the evaluation framework and evaluate Rounds One and Two of the Common Investment Fund.

Skills in the Workplace Evaluation

This evaluation report provides an assessment of a pilot exercise launched in 2006 to expand the remit of the (JISC) Regional Support Centre into the adult and community learning sector.

This report provides findings from an Evaluation of the Learntrain Access Repository for National Learning Network Materials.

The evaluation of the ILA programme has continued across the first four years of the programme, since it went live in 2003.

This report presents the findings of an evaluation and impact study in respect of the work carried out by NIACE Dysgu Cymru on behalf of the Welsh Assembly Government. The study was carried out between February and June 2007.

Shared Intelligence (Si) was commissioned by ELWa – now the Department for Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills (DELLS) – in 2003 to conduct the ongoing evaluation of the Learning Challenge Fund (LCF). Download: Evaluation of Learning Challenge Fund – Final report [.pdf 386KB]  

The aim of this guide is to give you the background knowledge needed to design and carry out monitoring and evaluation of your project to meet DELLS’ requirements. It will also demonstrate how evaluation information can be used as a management tool. Download: Common Investment Fund – Evaluat ...

CRG Research Ltd were commissioned by what was then ELWa1 in February 2006 to develop a 3–year evaluation framework for the DELLS Workforce Development Programme (initially entitled the Business Skills Development Programme) and the Business Marketing and Communications Strategy, and to carry ...

This report is the third main evaluation report, drawing on Management Information System (MIS) outputs and on consultation and survey evidence.     Its aim is to identify the main strengths and weaknesses evident in the third year of the programme and to use that analysis to suggest how the progra ...

This is the final report of the external evaluation of the Welsh Baccalaureate Qualification (WBQ) Pilot, which has been undertaken by the Centre for Developing and Evaluating Lifelong Learning (CDELL), at the University of Nottingham.  The aim of the evaluation was: To evaluate the design, deliver ...

This evaluation study was asked to reflect on the outcomes of the Project for educational institutions, for engineering businesses, for learners and for the North Wales economy. Download: FE Capital Project [.doc 339KB]

The overall aim of the evaluation is to assess the extent to which Project Secure secured an effective Work Based Learning programme in Wales – one which allocated training places in line with economic and social objectives and was relevant to individuals’ and employers’ skills needs. Downlo ...

The Oaks Project was funded by LCF between January 2004 and March 2006. It was an outreach project to encourage adults to re–engage with learning. When it was established, from a working age population of 33,000 in Blaenau Gwent, some 23,000 (70%) were not quali?ed to NVQ3 or equivalent and 1 ...

Achieving Closer Integration was a feasibility study into the options for formal integration between University of Wales Newport (UWN) and Coleg Gwent.

The TrainLink Skills and Training Survey aimed to build a partnership of training providers that would share information about their business clients, to ensure that employers and trainees could access suitable training opportunities.

The Prince’s Trust Cymru received £65,000 of Learning Challenge Fund monies to run a pilot project on accreditation of its learning programmes for young people. The project ran from 1 August 2002 to 30 June 2003.

The Merthyr Tyd?l Lifelong Learning Campus Project was funded by LCF between September 2004 and April 2006 as a research and feasibility study aimed at investigating the potential for raising demand and interest in learning and training through an integrated provision of learning within the Borough ...

The aims of the VLN project were to develop a co–ordinated and integrated network of community–based and other learning providers, and to plan, develop and implement co–ordinated learning provision where information, guidance and learning opportunities were easily available to all ...

Wales Co–operative Centre (WCC) is a leading development agency for co–operative businesses in Wales. The centre provides business advice and training to enterprises across the spectrum of the social economy. Download: Evaluation of the Learning Challenge Fund – Training for the ...

The National Strategy for the Tourism Training Forum for Wales (TTFW) was funded by LCF between March 2003 and February 2006 to develop a national strategy to enhance quality, relevance and take–up of training and education within tourism businesses in Wales. Download: Evaluation of the Lear ...

The Powys Basic Skills Project was funded by LCF between August 2003 and March 2006. It was the second phase of a CCET development to improve basic skills provision in Powys. The aim of the project has been to work in partnership to provide a quality assured framework and infrastructure and to wide ...

The Learning Vale project was funded by LCF between February 2004 and January 2006 to encourage innovation in learning provision and collaboration between learning providers in the Penrhyndeudraeth and Vale of Ffestiniog area of Gwynedd. Download: Evaluation of Learning Challenge Fund – Lear ...

Following almost two years of negotiations and discussions to resolve uncertainties about the funding of the scheme, Denbighshire County Council and ELWa reached agreement in September 2005. ELWa funding of £2.9m towards the £4.4m total project cost was approved to develop courses for 600 additiona ...

The Cyfrwng Welsh for Adults Project was funded by LCF between December 2003 and March 2006 to increase the capacity of Welsh for Adults providers to deliver in a non–traditional way by providing new accessible courses, designed in a way that would lead to ?uency. Download: Evaluation of Lea ...

The Carmarthenshire Basic Skills Strategy (CBSS) sought to support, develop and co–ordinate the delivery of basic skills within Carmarthenshire. The CBSS vision was for people in Carmarthenshire with low basic skills “to gain, or regain, the will to learn, improve their basic skills and incre ...

The Canolfan Sgiliaith project was funded by LCF between March 2003 and February 2005 to support the development of bilingual provision in further education colleges in Wales.

This report outlines findings from the second round of evaluation work of Learning Challenge Fund projects, carried out by Shared Intelligence (Si) on behalf of ELWa.

The Enable South West Wales project aimed to research the demand for, and provision of, learning for people with disabilities in South West Wales.

Investors in People is the National Standard which sets out a level of good practice for training and development of people to achieve business goals. Download: Evaluation of Learning Challenge Fund – Investors in People (IiP) Programme [.doc 1MB]  

The Swansea College City Centre Feasibility Study cost a total of £50,000 and was delivered by GVA Grimley on behalf of the College. The project commenced in March 2004 and the ?nal report was produced in June 2004. Download: Evaluation of the Learning Challenge Fund – Swansea College City C ...

The school Videoconferencing Project was funded by LCF between December 2003 and July 2005 as a pilot project to support the establishment of videoconferencing in a number of schools in Wales.

In March 2005, the former National Council for Education and Training for Wales (ELWa) commissioned CRG Research Ltd to undertake an evaluation of its Information Management Strategy (IMS). The IMS was created in 2002 in response to an initiative from the Welsh Assembly Government, its aim being to ...

This report outlines findings from the first round of evaluation work that Shared Intelligence has carried out of Learning Challenge Fund projects, on behalf of ELWa, a former Assembly Sponsored Public Body (ASPB) whose functions are now part of the Department for Education, Lifelong Learning and S ...

In January 2005, York Consulting Limited (YCL) in partnership with MRUK Research Wales, was commissioned to undertake an evaluation of Skill Build and Skill Build+, two of the five strands of work based learning funded by the former National Council for Education and Training for Wales (ELWa).   ...

This report is the output of the second round of evaluation of the (Individual Learning Accounts Wales) ILAW programme. It is delivered within an overall three–year evaluation programme. [The ILAW programme itself began in July 2003. A first main evaluation report was produced in May 2004. A ...

In October 2005 Tribal Education were commissioned by ELWa, a former Assembly Sponsored Public Body (ASPB) whose functions are now part of the Department for Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills, to undertake a consultation activity with the aim of evaluating the effectiveness of ELWa’s Lifelong ...

This report sets out the findings of the evaluation of the Learning Workers Project, commissioned by the Welsh Assembly Government and completed by Arad Consulting Ltd1 in association with the European Institute of Education and Social Policy.   The Learning Workers Project (LWP) was a pilot progra ...

This document presents the conclusions and recommendations of ECOTEC Research and Consulting Ltd, on a suitable Programme Evaluation Framework for the All–Age Work Based Learning (WBL) strategy in Wales. The framework specifies the data collection and analysis requirements for a robust indepe ...

Shared Intelligence (Si) was employed by ELWa in 2003 to conduct an ongoing evaluation of the Learning Challenge Fund (LCF). The first phase of the evaluation involved a review of the process of developing and setting up the LCF, and the production of a monitoring and evaluation guide for external ...

This evaluation report is a follow–on from the first evaluation report of the ReACT Programme, as published in September 2004. The evaluation continues to explore and assess how effective the ReACT programme is in supporting those individuals at risk of redundancy and its impact upon improvin ...

The Company Learning Account (CLA) is a business support mechanism that has been developed and piloted in response to concerns highlighted by the business community in Wales: that publicly–funded support can be, or is often perceived to be, too prescriptive, output–driven, inflexible, a ...

This brief report sets out the initial findings from a series of project visits undertaken between June and September 2004 and the initial work that has been carried out to draw up Integrated Evaluation Plans for the Learning Challenge Fund (LCF) projects. It will be followed by a more substantive ...

Managed by the Welsh Assembly Government, the ReACT programme has offered high levels of support to workers in Wales either facing or threatened by redundancy – not just as part of major plant closures, but also in smaller organisations affected by industrial change or experiencing difficulties for ...

One of the Welsh Assembly Government's priorities is to provide an increased number of quality learning opportunities for adult learners who wish to learn Welsh.  As part of our work on the restructuring of Welsh for Adults, ELWa, a former Assembly Sponsored Public Body (ASPB) whose functions are n ...

This interim evaluation report describes outcomes from the Learning Worker Pilot (LWP), which offers free training to Level 3 NVQ or equivalent to people working in the Llanelli area. The pilot was devised to measure the impact of free training on the demand for learning, and to look at a raft of e ...

The Managing Farms with IT Programme was developed by the former National Council for Education and Training for Wales (ELWa) in association with the Welsh Assembly Government’s Farm Development Strategy Group.   The Programme aimed to develop the capacity of Welsh farmers to manage their busine ...

The evaluation of the Networks of Excellence pilot assesses how well the pilot performed against its own stated aims and objectives, how well the process was developed and managed, what the initial outcomes of the pilot have been, and what are the relevant and important issues in terms of future de ...

CRG Research Ltd – November 2003 This report gives the findings from an evaluation designed to: Establish whether the programmes have met key milestone and outputs Establish the impact on employers and training providers and the North West Wales economy Establish what the additionality, displ ...

Dysg, the Learning and Skills Development Agency in Wales – November 2003 The evaluation of the Basic Skills Support Development Fund was commissioned to assess how effective the Fund was during its existence (between 2000–03) in assisting Further Education Institutions in Wales in dev ...

This Process & Best Practice Paper aims to explore the process that was established to generate applications from learning providers and to select the applications for funding;   to consider the processes that have been used by other organisations to identify and select strategic delivery partn ...

Bostock Marketing Group – June 2003 The main forms of evaluation focus on an empirical examination of how National Traineeships (NTs) / Modern Apprenticeships (MAs) is perceived by those involved in its delivery – from young participants of the programme up to policy–makers involved in ...

York Consulting – May 2003 The evaluation of Education Business Links (EBL) focuses on the impact and contractual arrangements of the teacher placements and Science, Engineering and Technology Curriculum Development Activities (SET CDA) that are formerly managed by ELWa, a former Assembly S ...