From its inception, SCEC has commissioned periodic reviews of its educational activities to evaluate their effectiveness. Initially, Edna Mathieson conducted evaluations of the Year 6 scheme through intensive face-to-face questioning of pupils, parents and primary school head teachers with her work being validated by the education research department at the London School of Economics. A full-scale examination of the Year 6 scheme was carried out in the late 1990s by a team of researchers from the Institute of Education, London University under the guidance of the Director of Professional Educational Psychology.
More recently, reviews have been carried out by experienced practitioners (head teachers and heads of department) whose observations and recommendations have proved to be of great help to trustees in making decisions about the development of SCEC’s schemes.
The most recent reviews were by (i) a primary school head teacher and educational consultant, (ii) the head teacher of an independent preparatory school, and (iii) the co-founder of the UK Mathematics Trust, a retired deputy headmaster and head of mathematics.
Feedback is obtained on a regular basis from pupils, parents, tutors, mentors and primary schools using straightforward computer-generated questionnaires. In addition, the primary schools are able to advise SCEC on the benefits attendance on the Saturday schemes bring to the individual pupils and to their peer groups at school e.g. performance on standardised internal and national tests.
Southwark Community Education Charity 