Impact evaluation runs through the core of our programmes, as a deliberate and conscious practice involving participants, parents and teachers. Our experience tells us that involving all stakeholders in a conscious and continuous self-other evaluation exercise deepens the learning significantly. This allows us to highlight:
- The impact the project is making on the individual and the school as a whole
- The advances students and teachers see in their own growth and progress
- A deeper understanding of the wellbeing needs of our participants and how to better support them going forward and the school as a whole to address future wellbeing areas.
“An overview of literature on the effectiveness of 370 different wilderness experience programmes, carried out in 2009 for the Wilderness Foundation, showed that these programmes had contributed significantly to successful changes in participants’ health, behaviour, and attitudes. However, the findings also showed that wilderness experiences improved: physical fitness, increased cardiovascular health, reduced fat in body mass, improved sleep patterns, and lowered tension. Along with enhanced physical health, there were also significant improvements in mental health, self-esteem, self-efficacy, and self-control. These programmes also greatly improved participant’s personal sense of belonging, social skills, and interpersonal relationships, not to mention highlighting the long-term social benefits of reduced need for welfare support and involvement with the health and criminal justice services (Hine, Pretty, & Barton, 2009).”
Roger Duncan – Mentor to The Visionaries and Systemic Family Therapist for the NHS
