• Devil in the detail: using a pupil questionnaire survey in an evaluation of out-of-school classes for gifted and talented children

      Lambert, Mike (Routledge (Taylor & Francis), 2008)
      The use of questionnaires to evaluate educational initiatives is widespread, but often problematic. This paper examines four aspects of an evaluation survey carried out with very able pupils attending out-of-school classes: ethics, design, bias and interpretation. There is a particular focus on the interpretation and analysis of pupils' answers to open questions. Conclusions are drawn from this analysis which will help teachers and others to take a careful and critical approach to their use of questionnaires in educational evaluation.
    • Evaluation of 'Advanced Learning Centres' for gifted and talented pupils

      Lambert, Mike (London: DfES, 2006)
      ‘Advanced Learning Centres’ (ALCs) are special out-of-school classes for very able pupils, often (but not always) in their final year of primary schooling. The growth and development of these Centres has been coordinated by the Gifted and Talented Unit of the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) through the Excellence in Cities (EiC) initiative, in partnership with a national charity, the National Primary Trust (NPT). This evaluation stems from original research, designed to analyse equality of access to the provision, evaluate pupils’ enjoyment, engagement and learning, and examine possible impact of that learning on achievement.
    • Measure beyond Pleasure: Evaluating the Impact on Learning of Out-of-School Programmes for Able and Gifted Pupils in England

      Lambert, Mike (Common Ground Publishing Pty Ltd., 2003)
      School-education in England is replete with new projects and initiatives of various kinds. Many require formal evaluation of their impact and effectiveness, often carried out by researchers from higher education. One of these initiatives has been the development in recent years of ‘Advanced Learning Centres’ – out-of-school programmes for school-pupils. The author of this paper is now undertaking a three-year national evaluation of the impact on learning of pupils’ attendance at these Centres. This paper presents and analyses some of the issues and obstacles of doing this evaluation. These include facing the ‘Hawthorne effect’ of initial enthusiasm, the need to identify the historical context of out-of-school learning for able pupils, the difficulties of measuring against goals and intended outcomes, and tensions between the need for measurement and the ethos of the Centres themselves. The paper identifies ways forward for the evaluation process and relates this to evaluation of other similar projects elsewhere.