Youth Social Action Trials: Youth United. Evaluation Report and Executive Summary
Author: Gorard, Stephen
Date: 2016-07-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Program Evaluation,Intervention,Youth Programs,Social Action,Program Effectiveness,Academic Achievement,Self Esteem,Teamwork,Randomized Controlled Trials,Secondary School Students,Teacher Attitudes,Parent Attitudes,Student Attitudes,Surveys,Low Income Groups,Program Implementation

The intervention evaluated here is one of two &quot;youth social action&quot; projects jointly funded by the Education Endowment Foundation, the U.K. Cabinet Office, the Pears Foundation and the Stone Family Foundation. It was delivered by the Youth United Foundation (YUF) and involved uniformed youth organisations being established in schools in six areas in the north of England. YUF helped to set up new units of The Scout Association, Fire Cadets, Sea Cadets or St John Ambulance in participating schools. The number, duration, and frequency of sessions varied: most groups met weekly, sessions lasted two hours on average, and the average number of sessions in the academic year was 24. Activities were delivered by trained staff from the uniformed youth organisations and in some cases also involved adult volunteers, including teachers. This project assessed the impact of participation on pupils' academic attainment, and on wider outcomes such as self-confidence and teamwork, using a randomized controlled trial design. The wider outcomes are of particular relevance because the participating organisations share core aims of inspiring young people to do community work and volunteer, to learn new skills, and to be active citizens. Seventy-one schools were randomly allocated to either receive the intervention or not. Of 7,781 Year 9 students, 3,377 reported in the initial survey that they would like to take part in the kinds of activities offered, and 663 took part in uniformed youth group activities during the 2014/2015 academic year. A process evaluation was also conducted to collect information about the mode of delivery and programme implementation, and feedback from teachers, pupils and parents. Key conclusions include: (1) There is no evidence that the intervention had any benefit in terms of pupils' academic performance. Although the attainment data suggests a small negative impact, the quality of this data is too low to draw this conclusion with confidence. The data quality was compromised due to changes in national testing; (2) Participation in the intervention is associated with a small improvement in self-reported nonattainment outcomes including self-confidence and teamwork. It is possible that these small effects are an underestimate due to technical issues regarding the groups of children that were compared in the analysis; (3) For pupils eligible for free schools meals, there is no evidence that the intervention had a positive impact on academic attainment or self-reported character attributes. Again, the attainment data suggests a negative impact, but the quality of this data is too low to draw this conclusion with confidence; (4) Almost a quarter of schools did not deliver the intervention due to issues such as lack of teacher volunteers, and other schools did not deliver a full programme of activity. Support from senior leaders, dedicated space, school staff time, and a dedicated slot in the school day or after school were all identified as necessary conditions for successful implementation; and (5) Study participants were extremely positive about the intervention and many felt it had a positive effect on the behaviour and skills of participating pupils. [This project is one of two &quot;youth social action&quot; projects jointly funded by the Education Endowment Foundation, the U.K. Cabinet Office, the Pears Foundation and the Stone Family Foundation.]