Local Evaluation in a National Early Years Excellence Centres Pilot Programme

Abstract

This article is focused on the evaluation of one of New Labour's area-based initiatives in the UK. It traces local evaluators' changing concerns in the face of increasing control from a national evaluation programme. It shows how strains are being felt in relation to evaluators' roles, timescales and approaches to reporting. A pre-specified framework of indicators and a template for reporting are tending to concentrate effort upon finding the ‘looked for’ or confirming the ‘asked for’, at the expense of new learning. We look at the difficulties in trying to integrate participatory evaluation and performance management, and in particular in trying to make evaluation meaningful and educative, rather than a bureaucratic burden, for local participants.