Case Studies By Service Area
Evaluation and Research
Evaluation of the InService Teacher Education Practice project (INSTEP)
The Scope
In April 2007, we were asked by the Ministry of Education to undertake the evaluation of the INSTEP project. The INSTEP project was designed to promote a strategic and coherent focus across the inservice teacher education system and build the capability of inservice teacher educators. The evaluation to ascertain the role and contribution of INSTEP in bringing about desired shifts in inservice teacher education practice in New Zealand was carried out in two phases. This allowed an exploration of various components of the project and gather evidence around the medium term impact of the project on inservice teacher education practice.
Our Involvement
The evaluation framework and plan was developed collaboratively with the INSTEP project team including key project stakeholders and members of the research and evaluation team from within the Ministry. The evaluation activities were undertaken primarily by Meenakshi Sankar, Senior Consultant, MartinJenkins and Sonia Ogier, Consultant, MartinJenkins. The two evaluators undertook longitudinal case study research with participating agencies/institutions, interviews with key project team members and an online survey of all participants in the project to build a story of impact of INSTEP on practice.
The Outcome
The framework and plan and the evaluation were well supported by the Ministry. The evaluation identified critical issues for the Ministry in implementing research and development projects more generally as well the value and contribution of INSTEP in lifting capability and performance of inservice teacher educators. The evaluation has also created a platform for future conversations and ongoing learning across the sector about the different points in the system where the Ministry and providers of inservice teacher education can usefully intervene to improve outcomes.
The MartinJenkins Difference
Working collaboratively with members of the project team has served to enhance evaluation capability within the Ministry. Developing a useful framework that captures key points of leverage for the Ministry in influencing change in this sector is challenging. The risk is that frameworks can become too complex to be communicated effectively, or too simple to be useful. Our expertise and experience in evaluation theory and practice enabled us to gain commitment to our approach and build credibility with practitioners. We were seen to add value to the process and in this way our evaluators were able to gain rich insights to help distil impacts of the project.
