Evaluation of Wellies in the Woods
In June 2022, Groundwork East commissioned ERS to undertake an impact and process evaluation of the Wellies in the Woods project during its 2022-2023 pilot phase. The project aimed to improve parents’ and children’s confidence in engaging with the outdoors and natural play. Activities were also designed to demonstrate replicable, low-to-no-cost outdoor activities for parents to use with their children in future.
The ERS research team began the evaluation with a document and data review of previous Groundwork reports and internal monitoring data, as well as a review of the existing literature and evidence base on the benefits of outdoor play for children and families. This review informed the development of a new evaluation framework, along with the design a suite of research tools for primary research with the different stakeholders involved in the project.
Our approach to designing research tools was highly collaborative. We worked closely with the project team, as well as delivery staff at different Groundwork Trusts, to ensure that tools were usable and practical and could continue to capture evidence after the evaluation had ended. Our research team also ran a training session on evaluation for Groundwork teams, supporting the organisation to embed and strengthen its commitment to gathering robust data.
For our primary research, the ERS team conducted 15 semi-structured interviews: three interviews with project team members, six with delivery staff, and six with the parents or carers of the young children taking part in activities. Interviews with parents, carers and families were relatively short and informal and were conducted face-to-face during project sessions, which boosted response rates and engagement . The research team also carried out ethnographic observations of two Wellies in the Woods sessions in Wales. The qualitative data generated by this primary research was then analysed using a deductive thematic coding method, in order to objectively draw out the key themes of this report and ensure robust, yet powerful, qualitative findings.
The findings of our evaluation will support the Groundwork team to:
Reflect on the progress and overall performance of the project
Gain a better understanding of best practice amongst the trusts and nationally
Improve project delivery and
Support future project evaluations, including educating trusts and early years staff on evaluation and its importance
Senior Leaders within the Trust also expressed hope that our report, with its practical and usable recommendation, will help to empower early years staff to set up and deliver their own outdoor courses in future.
“ERS carried out our Wellies in the Woods evaluation and throughout the time working together were very professional, worked flexibly with us and met all key deadlines that were set. It was noted that when ERS paid a visit to one of our courses, the families stated how friendly and approachable the staff were and they really enjoyed having ERS join them for their session. The findings and report created will help us aid conversations when going for local and also corporate funding to continue our Wellies in the Woods course across the UK.” - Client Testimonial