PROGRAM EVALUATION IN THE HUMAN SERVICES SECTOR: AN INITIAL ANALYSIS OF THE WIDENING PARTICIPATION IN EDUCATION PROGRAM UK

摘要

This paper will initially describe and discuss the development and growth of the program evaluation discipline with particular reference to the public sector. This initial objective will be achieved by discussing the physical and attitudinal changes that have occurred between the suppliers and recipients of human services during the last few decades. This will be followed by a discussion of the general aims of program evaluation as seen from several viewpoints, there are several drivers for program evaluation cited in the literature, this paper will concentrate on value for money and accountability. Different perspectives for viewing programs of change and thus evaluation of change will be discussed; House's perspective will be central to this section and a variation of his model will be presented. Finally a large program of change recently embarked upon by the current UK government, widening participation within the education sector, will be discussed with reference to the earlier sections. The education sector forms the nucleus of the debate throughout this paper; a far-reaching change in attitude within the UK society will also be discussed. The UK has traditionally been twenty or so years behind the USA in terms of trends and attitudes; this includes both good and bad trends. This is the case in the area of evaluation within human services the last decade has seen dramatic changes in the public attitude towards the professions that supply these services. Quality of service provided is no longer accepted as a fate acompli, the acceptance that well meaning individuals or groups who institute a new health, education, training, rehabilitation, or other services actually help people. Today no professional is above being held accountable; the "right" of professionals to make unchallenged judgments has been curtailed. Government administrators, teachers, medical-care providers, legal professionals, social service workers, military officers, and even the clergy are among those whose performance is now being more closely analysed. Keywords: Evaluation, Human Services, Education, Widening Participation.