Wise Steps Case Study

Background

Wise Steps was a social inclusion programme delivered across Tyne and Wear and funded by the European Social Fund and the National Lottery (Building Better Opportunities).  The Wise Group was leading the partnership and also acted as a coaching partner in Newcastle, South Tyneside, and Sunderland.  

Wise Steps was available to people who were of working age, unemployed or economically inactive, socially excluded and had multiple barriers to work (refugees, lone parents, ex-offenders, carers/care leavers, experience of homelessness, etc.). 

The programme helped thousands of people access employment and work experience opportunities as well as supported them to achieve qualifications and improve their well-being and life choices. 

Research Activity 

Since the beginning of the programme, the Wise Steps management team followed a well-planned Monitoring and Evaluation Framework that was based on a Theory of Change model. 

Maria Fotiadou joined the programme as the Research and Learning Specialist in 2019. Since then, she produced a number of research projects that aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the programme and show its impact. 

Research Reports produced for Wise Steps

1. Evaluation of Wise Steps - Phase one

2. Economic Inactivity: Statistics, Groups, and Actions.

3. A corpus-based analysis of Exit Questionnaires

4. Follow-up Survey

5. Statistical analysis of groups with complex barriers

6. Understanding Disengagement

7. Progression, experience, and destinations of Wise Steps participants

8. We are here, we listen, we care: Analysing participant feedback

9. Partnership evaluation

10. Employer engagement

11. Empowering Wise Steps participants

12. Using our knowledge to improve future services

13. Wise Steps: Participant progression (Phases 1 & 2)

14. Wise Steps Final Evaluation Report (Phases 1, 2, extension) 

Analysing participant feedback

Wise Steps participants were asked to complete an Exit Survey at the end of the programme. During the first phase of the programme (2016-2019), only a small number of participants completed the Exit Survey. This was due to various reasons. For example, the questionnaire was too long and it was only provided in paper form. 

To increase the response rates, Maria created a short and easy-to-complete online survey. The use of an online survey led to a significantly higher response rate compared to the paper version.

Methods

To analyse the data, a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods and tools were used. 

Besides statistical information, the Exit Survey included open-ended questions that allowed us to gather a dataset of more than 33,000 words. 

Corpus Linguistics methods and tools were used to analyse the language of Wise Steps participants. 

The corpus analysis brought to light many interesting keywords and patterns that were examined in detail. 

In general, the language used by Wise Steps participants shows that:

• Wise Steps offered a holistic, person-centred and flexible approach,
• Wise Steps helped people move forward,
• Wise Steps helped people build their confidence,
• Wise Steps helped people with their mental health and wellbeing,
• Wise Steps helped people deal with social isolation, and
• Wise Steps helped people turn things around.

Suggestions for improvement

A list of Suggestions for Improvement was presented to the Wise Steps management team. These suggestions were then turned into an Action Plan that helped improve the delivery of the programme and the experience of Wise Steps participants. 

Outcomes

The programme's research activity:

• explored a wide range of issues including the participants' experiences and satisfaction levels, their progress and destinations, barriers to participation, and disengagement, and also provided evidence of changes in personal, social and work skills,
• collected and analysed a significant amount of data and information from Wise Steps staff, coaches, and employers who engaged with participants,
• helped the management team to better understand the needs of participants, staff, coaches, and employers, 
• allowed the management team to get a clear picture of the strengths and weaknesses of the Wise Steps programme,
• resulted in the creation of several practical recommendations for improvements to the programme and its delivery in future,
• provided valuable insight and evidence that can be used in future services or programmes.

Wise Steps Research Insights to be published by Palgrave Macmillan

As a result of the innovative methodology used for the analysis of the qualitative data (participant linguistic feedback), a book contract was signed by Dr Maria Fotiadou with Palgrave Macmillan. 

The book will present the first, systematic and in-depth linguistic analysis of the feedback provided by people who participated in Wise Steps. The dataset includes feedback from 475 unemployed and Economically Inactive people. Corpus Linguistics methods and tools will be used to analyse the data. It will demonstrate that CL tools can be successfully applied to monitor and evaluate social inclusion or employment programmes.