Giuseppe Moro

Evaluating the impact of the Erasmus programme: skills and European identity

The primary purpose of this study lies in the evaluation of what students acquire from studies abroad in the context of credit mobility, in terms of competence development and personal growth, compared with that gained by students completing their study or internship in their home country. A pre-post test design, with both an experimental group and a control group, was employed for students participating in the Erasmus programme and those continuing their regular course of study at their home university. The findings obtained suggest that study abroad programmes have a positive impact on the perception of university students. The highest values among Erasmus students in terms of outcomes were attributed to cultural enhancement, personal development and foreign language proficiency. Study abroad has, furthermore, a Europeanising impact inasmuch as it affects the self-identity of students.

Focus Groups as an Instrument to Define Evaluation Criteria The Case of Foster Care

This article reports the results of a research project that aimed to identify the criteria upon which a foster care intervention may be considered as having been successful. The aim was to confirm the existence of shared evaluation criteria among the different groups involved in foster care and, moreover, to investigate possible differences in the meaning given to the foster care experience by the different stakeholders. The data collected from six focus groups was analysed in two ways: first, the criteria necessary to evaluate foster care were derived; second, a textual analysis was undertaken to investigate the associations and the frequency of use of some significant terms.

Education and Social Inclusion: An Evaluation of a Dropout Prevention Intervention

Purpose: The article describes an evaluation study to test the effectiveness of “Storie in gioco” project (Stories in Play, Storie in gioco [SIG]), a dropout prevention intervention aimed to prevent early school leaving (ESL) in at risk students. Method: The research used a mixed-method approach: in the quantitative phase, a two-group pre-/post evaluation design involving 230 students was used to estimate SIG outcomes; in the qualitative step, stakeholders’ focus group discussions and interviews have been used to interpret results. Results: Even if SIG appears to impact scholastic self-esteem and peer relationships, no effect was found when a comparison group matched for baseline measures was used. Based on qualitative data, the article identifies mechanisms influencing SIG outcomes and provides key insights into improving it. Conclusions: The authors emphasize the priority to develop programs to reduce intergenerational transmission of educational poverty and express methodological and theoretical considerations regarding SIG effectiveness and ESL prevention interventions.

Valutare l’innovazione sociale

In this article the author upholds that evaluation may become itself a factor of innovation: by bringing data to inform and guide ongoing decision making as part of an innovative process; if it is designed to empower people and to improve their programs using a form of self-evaluation and reflection while social action is unfolding; by helping people to reconstruct their experiences finding new meanings to deepen sense of their actions and to understand better what it means to be leaders of an innovative process in the context of welfare programs. To play this role evaluation must have a complex vision both of context in which innovation emerges and of innovation generative and diffusive process.

Valutare per decidere: un monitoraggio qualitativo degli investimenti pubblici

Valutare per decidere: un monitoraggio qualitativo degli investimenti pubblici - This paper suggests some considerations regarding the relationship between evaluation and making decision processes, through the description of an evaluation experience of some formative projects orientated towards unemployed young people living in Apulia Region. After the definition of evaluation question, made together with Educational Local Authority, we have preferred a qualitative research approach. Sharing a participative approach, we have chosen a multistakeholder research design as instrument to catch the representations of actors involved regarding the evolution of projects, the weak and strong aspects, through to focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews respectively administered to actuators and beneficiaries of these projects. Interviews have been analyzed first trough content analysis of relevance and in a second moment trough associations analysis between words, by the use of T-Lab software. Highlighting stakeholders’ suggestions and recommendations and giving back them to the decision maker confirms the utility of evaluation as instrument to supporting making decision processes, with the aim of improving policies. Key words: partecipate evaluation, multistakeholder research design, utilization of evaluation Process