Myplace Evaluation – Final Report Durham University YMCA George Williams College | April 2011
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myplace evaluation – final report Durham University YMCA George Williams College | April 2011 1 Contents Executive summary _______________________________________________ 3 Introduction_______________________________________________________ 3 The evaluation ____________________________________________________ 3 Context __________________________________________________________ 3 Mapping progress __________________________________________________ 7 Recommendations ________________________________________________ 12 Introduction _____________________________________________________ 17 Background _____________________________________________________ 17 The myplace evaluation ____________________________________________ 18 The changing context ____________________________________________ 20 Background _____________________________________________________ 20 The myplace programme and building for work with young people ___________ 26 Financial crisis ___________________________________________________ 29 Policy developments _______________________________________________ 33 myplace - Key findings and mapping progress _______________________ 40 The myplace aim _________________________________________________ 40 Outcome 1: ______________________________________________________ 50 Outcome 2: ______________________________________________________ 55 Outcome 3: ______________________________________________________ 64 Outcome 4: ______________________________________________________ 69 Continuing evaluation ______________________________________________ 89 Conclusion _____________________________________________________ 95 References ____________________________________________________ 105 Appendix 1: myplace projects _____________________________________ 115 Appendix 2: an overview of the methodology ________________________ 123 Appendix 3: the 2011 myplace annual survey ________________________ 127 The participating projects __________________________________________ 128 Partnership _____________________________________________________ 129 The facility _____________________________________________________ 133 Participation ____________________________________________________ 142 Strategy _______________________________________________________ 146 2 Executive summary Introduction myplace is a major Government programme which arose from Aiming High for young people: a ten year strategy for positive activities (HM Treasury 2007). The programme looks to establish ‘world class’ places for young people which will offer positive activities and access to a range of services. The Big Lottery Fund (BIG) manages the implementation of myplace for the Department for Education (previously the Department for Children, Schools and Families). Grants to projects range from £1 million to £5 million. Initially, some 70 projects were funded under three different phases of the myplace programme. The evaluation The evaluation followed the implementation of the projects until March 2011. Its overall aims were to identify: • The extent to which leading practice is being adopted by projects and more widely; • The impact of adopting leading practice; and • The extent of progress towards the myplace outcomes. A Baseline Evaluation Report was produced in December 2009. That Report considered progress in the 21 ‘Fast track’ projects, including three case study projects. A further five were then chosen from the range of Fast Track and Standard Track Round 1 projects for more detailed investigation. An Interim Report (DfE 2010b) set out some of the background to the programme and evaluated progress during the first year up to the end of March 2010 mapped against the aim and outcomes. This final report is based on continuing work with the eight case study centres, visits to seven additional centres (largely with buildings already open), interviews with lead contacts in two further centres; two annual surveys of centres; and research into the policy and practice context. The lead researchers on this evaluation were Jean Spence (University of Durham) and Mark K Smith (YMCA George Williams College). The vast bulk of the fieldwork was undertaken by Tracey Hodgson (University of Durham) and Simon Frost (YMCA George Williams College). Gill D Callaghan (University of Durham) undertook much of the preliminary work, including the Baseline Report. Context The evaluation is set within an analysis of the policy framework out of which it developed and in the context of an historical overview of building-based work with young people. 3 The specific policy framework The establishment of the myplace programme must be understood in the context of an overarching policy framework relevant to children and young people originating with the previous government. This included Aiming High for young people: a ten year strategy for positive activities (HM Treasury 2007); Every Child Matters (ECM) (DfES 2003) supplemented by Youth Matters (HM Government 2005); The Youth Opportunity and Youth Capital Funds (launched in 2006 under the influence of Youth Matters); and Extended schooling (DCSF 2008) and the Building Schools for the Future Programme. Subsequently, with a change of government, there was a change of emphasis. Priority has recently been placed on the investment driving the on-going reform of local youth provision; leveraging on going investment; and evidence-based early interventions for the most vulnerable young people (in line with plans for the Early Intervention Grant). Historical context Historical analysis of building-based work with young people draws attention to: The development of expertise in building-based youth work in the voluntary sector over 200 years of practice. The history of buildings developed in the voluntary sector reveals a set of concerns relevant to myplace, involving the desire to be ‘world-leading’ in terms of material and design and also to consider design around mission, aims and objectives. The experience of purpose-built statutory neighbourhood youth centres and of youth wings in schools established in the wake of the publication of the Albemarle Report in 1960. These buildings were designed to encourage conviviality as well as physical and cultural activity. Several lessons can be learned from the post-Albemarle history. • Firstly, leading individuals were significant in establishing particular places as attractive for young people. • Secondly, especially in the statutory sector, many Albemarle Centres declined for want of investment, particularly for repair and refurbishment. • Thirdly, problems arose from locking budgets into buildings which sometimes ceased to be sited in relevant locations or offer the type of facilities attractive to changing youth populations. • Finally, while there were resource advantages in youth wings in schools, and they were widely used by young people, they did not tend to attract the most disadvantaged and those who had difficulties with schooling who preferred to use neighbourhood-based facilities. Changing social patterns and experiences. In recent years, youth leisure has been reconfigured towards the private and the familial as a consequence of demographic change; improved housing; the growing importance of schooling; new technologies and increased access to commercial opportunities. As noted in the interim evaluation report, there appears to have been a lack of proper attention to the changing experience of being young and the related shifts in the location of young people’s leisure time activity. Larger, free-standing centres focused around the perceived needs of young people now have to compete with what is offered in a range of other settings – notably homes, schools, leisure centres and commercial activities. 4 Continuing potential Involvement in youth work and organised out-of-school activities which are voluntary and characterised by structure, adult-supervision and an emphasis on skill-building, benefit significant numbers of young people. In particular, young people have been shown to gain specialist knowledge and skills, self-control and confidence and the opportunity to make a contribution to the well being of others through their participation and engagement. A range of evidence (e.g. Crimmens et al 2004; Spence, and Devanney, 2006; Harland, 2009, Davies, 2011), shows that local work with young people continues to offer sanctuary (a space away from the pressures of the school, family and neighbourhood); accessible and enjoyable activity; personal and social development; settings where friendships and relationships grow; and access to local knowledge and to credible role models. Financial crisis The world banking crisis of 2008, the associated rise in unemployment, continuing issues around growth and reductions in public spending are having a major impact upon UK education and welfare systems. For myplace projects three areas are of particular significance. These are the effect on: • the economic and social wellbeing of local communities; • the welfare of young people; and • the provision of services for young people and local communities. The scale of the reduction in funding is leading to far-reaching changes in the direction, organisation and level of services. It has accelerated the move into targeted work and increasingly left universal provision to schools and civil society organisations (almost totally in the case of some local authorities). We highlight three areas of impact for myplace centres: Focus. There will be changes in the work that projects will be called upon to do. The most obvious