Our previous measures
The College's range of measurement tools is designed to understand and measure young people’s gains in socio-emotional skills, the quality of provision to support socio-emotional skills, and the level of young people’s engagement in this provision. Please note that these measurement tools have now been updated, you can access our current tools here.
About the hub:
We want to ensure that those working with young people can understand how their provision builds relationships with young people, and creates safe, interactive and engaging environments in which they can grow and learn. This Measurement Hub outlines the outcomes we measure, the underpinning theory of change and provides the tools to collect and analyse the data. It supports practitioners design, explain, evaluate, and improve their offer to young people.
Outcomes for young people
We primarily focus on the development of socio-emotional skills, the staff practices that influence them and the application of these skills in the provision and the transfer to other areas of the young person’s life – collectively this forms what we refer to as ‘domains’. There are 6 socio-emotional skills domains: responsibility, empathy, problem solving, initiative, teamwork, and emotion management. These are both influenced by and influence each individual person’s life experiences.
There is strong evidence and significant consensus that, well-developed socio-emotional skills increase the likelihood of achieving positive later life outcomes for young people, such as: the attainment of qualifications; securing, sustaining and progressing in employment; forming and maintaining positive relationships; developing a physically and mentally healthy lifestyle; and taking action on social injustices that matter to us. Socio-emotional skills are therefore the most important outcomes of youth work and provision.
More detail about this and the conditions and experiences through which young people develop these skills, can be found in Outcomes Framework 2.1 . This is a shared framework for everyone working with and for young people.
Measuring outcomes
There is no one way to measure youth provision; different measures focus on different elements of provision, and are therefore appropriate in different contexts. It is always best to start by asking yourself what evidence you need and want, and why: 'evidence of what, for what?'. The tools we provide can help to understand:
Changes in socio-emotional skills: the YRSS measures the medium to long-term changes in young people’s socio-emotional skills by understanding where they were at before they start, potentially during and after taking part in youth provision. They can track how these skills show up in other areas of young people’s lives – for example, how they engage with peers or families, or in the longer term, changes in their health and livelihoods.
Changes in behaviour: the ARYB measures young people’s socio-emotional skills in youth provision settings through a focus on how young people put these skills into practice in their participation and relationships with others. These changes are often captured through observation by practitioners.
Young people’s engagement: the YES tool captures young people’s feedback on their experiences of provision and their ‘mental engagement’ in activities, discussions and their environment. This enables an understanding of how their socio-emotional skills relate to their experience of the provision and their relationships with practitioners.
The quality of youth provision: the PQA and the SPQS tools measure the quality of the provision in terms of the experience provided for the young person. This is captured by observations of practice and practitioners to understand how they are creating the conditions that promote young people’s development of socio-emotional skills.
Data analysis: The portal is a web-based application where organisations can administer the College’s measurement tools and analyse results.
Ready to dive in? Check out this short video or this PDF guide to get a detailed overview about this hub and our tools.
An Overview of Theory of Change
The theory of change provides an overview of how aspects of the provision, including the quality of provision, link to socio-emotional skill development.
The Adult Rating of Youth Behaviour (ARYB)
Measures young people’s socio emotional skills rated by an adult observing the young person’s behaviour.
The Programme Quality Assessment (PQA)
An observational tool to understand whether staff are creating the conditions for young people to develop socio-emotional skills (safe, supportive, interactive and engaging environments).
The Staff Programme Quality Survey (SPQS)
A self assessment tool to measure the quality of staff’s delivery practices in terms of the environment they create.
The Youth Engagement Survey (YES)
Measures young people’s engagement (enjoyment, inclusion, attention and voice) during provision.
The Youth Rating of Socio-emotional Skills (YRSS)
Enables a young person to self-rate their socio-emotional skills.
Data Portal
Our web-based platform where you can access the tools, upload your evaluation feedback and analyse the results.
Additional support
If you feel you want some more support having looked through the measurement resource hub, we have the following on offer:
Office hours support calls
You can book an hour's support call with one of our experts by emailing here.
Impact and Improvement Resource Hub
You can learn more about the subject of impact evaluation in this Resource Hub.
Impact and Improvement Programme
We have training sessions about impact and improvement, and a specific session to support you to use these measures. Find out more here.
Regional Impact Networks
You can find out how other people in your region are using the measures by joining your local Regional Impact Network.
Organisational Learning
We can also offer you bespoke support with our organisational learning team – please drop us a line here.