About this project
In recent years, the provision of out-of-school digital youth projects has become prominent in Scotland. The importance of informal digital education for young Scots was highlighted in the National Digital Strategy for Scotland, published in 2017. The Scottish Government’s aim is to equip “children and young people with the increasingly sophisticated and creative digital skills they need to thrive in modern society and the workplace” (The Scottish Government, 2017, p.24).
While youth workers in Scotland have been provided with new funding and new digital tools to facilitate their work, the evaluation approaches have remained largely unchanged. There is limited knowledge of how digital youth projects in Scotland are being evaluated and how youth workers and young people experience the process of evaluation.
The purpose of this doctoral research project at Edinburgh Napier University was to develop knowledge of social impact evaluation of youth digital projects in Scotland. The data collection (interviews and a focus group with youth workers, and a participatory workshop with young people aged 16-25 yrs) took place in years 2017-2018. This doctoral research project was carried out by Alicja Pawluczuk, supervised by Dr Gemma Webster, Dr Colin Smith & Prof Hazel Hall.
