Are we doing it consistently well | Theory

Answering this question involves considering what high quality looks and feels like to you, your staff, and the young people you work with. For example, suppose you offer kayaking for young people. In that case, you’ll need to have enough safe working equipment, ensure that staff are trained in safety procedures, and are skilled in creating an environment in which young people can challenge themselves with support and reflect on the process. There are some quality marks and standards that can help you to gain an objective perspective on these different aspects of your provision. 

Starting point

Start here if you are a youth practitioner new to evaluation and quality improvement design:

Asking good questions about programme quality and consistency

If you’re new to quality, then this introduction and workbook developed by the College is a great place to start. It will help you think through this question and introduce you to various standards, and quality marks that are specific to working with young people. It also includes information about the new Youth Programme Quality Intervention pilot project.

Download workbook

Introduction to Continuous Quality Improvement

A great overview of what it means to take a continuous quality improvement approach and how it can help you become even better at what you do.

Watch here

What are the different quality marks and standards?

The Youth Work Curriculum, developed by the National Youth Agency (NYA), summarises the different UK youth sector quality standards and marks available to support your work.

Go to site

Where does data about 'quality' fit in?

This video explores how collecting and analysing data about the quality of your provision can make your evaluations more meaningful. 

Watch here

Advanced

Resources to build on your experience of evaluation frameworks and continuous quality improvement:

Embedding a continuous quality improvement approach

Learn from the experience of organisations that have been on a journey of embedding continuous quality improvement as part of the College's Impact Accelerator. This series of reports gives an insight into the experience of 30 organisations who were actively developing their quality practice and evidence-based approach while on the Impact Accelerator.

Read the reports

Improving youth work

This guide by the European Commission of Youth Work (2017) describes itself as creating a practical map for youth workers to improve the quality of their provision.

Read the report

Linking Quality and Equity

If you are interested in how to embed equity throughout your quality improvement, take a look at this website. Although from a health perspective, it offers a valuable toolkit for embedding equity in quality work.

Read the Advancing Health Equity Toolkit

Just Quality hub

The Just Quality hub is packed full of resources to help you reflect and improve on your practices that support young people’s socio-emotional skills development. 

Explore here