research — Our Blog

Evaluating 10 years of Early Years Systems Change: Insights from Lambeth Early Action Partnership

For 10 years, Lambeth Early Action Partnership (LEAP) has funded and supported more than 20 local services to meet the needs of families through pregnancy and the early years of childhood with the aim of giving thousands of children aged 0-3 a better start in life. Now, a decade on, Dartington Service Design Lab is proud to present this new report, sharing the findings from a comprehensive evaluation of the programme. This report explores how place-based systems change can improve outcomes for children and families.

Using eco-mapping to understand systems of social support for families

Led by the Dartington Service Design Lab’s Lambeth-based community research team, eco-mapping was used to explore how (and if) systems of social support (like LEAP) influenced families within the nuance of their local social, economic, and cultural contexts. We wanted to share the learning to help others looking to transform their services and community offers to better help families and children.

News, SystemsBLOG9 September 2024systems change, research, children, earlyyears, Young people, Evaluation, Megan Keenan, ecomap

Practicing power sharing in Community Research

As part of our commitment to sustainable and participatory approaches to evidence, we wanted to promote the learning from the work co-designed by our three Community Researchers living and working in Lambeth, working with us to evaluate the Lambeth Early Action Partnership (LEAP) systems change project. Using this method helps unpick complex, place-based systemic problems and can support tailoring services to better serve communities. We are sharing these insights to support others in the research and evaluation community who are thinking about or already undertaking community-led research, particularly in the early years sector.

News, SystemsBLOG21 August 2024systems change, research, children, earlyyears, Young people, Evaluation, Megan Keenan, ecomap

The AI revolution in children's services - what to consider

AI is all around us, from text prediction in WhatsApp to generating all kinds of things via ChatGPT and other such tools. It's certainly not going away and is playing a significant role in not just our lives but the lives of children and families. So, what does this mean for AI in the youth sector? And what could it do for your work and organisation? Dartington Service Design Lab has been at the forefront of progressive applications of research for over fifty years, and we’re intrigued by the advances in artificial intelligence (AI), which is already changing the way we develop, deliver and evaluate services for children, young people and families – bringing a wealth of opportunities and challenges to navigate.

Getting research ready for the messy world of systems change

As we began the year, we set out our strategic priorities, with a core focus on the early years, mental health and safety for children, young people and families. Our work is increasingly concerned with systems change; working with partners to challenge and disrupt the conditions, structures and power that uphold inequalities in outcomes and experiences for children and young people.

Catalysing systemic change to tackle inequalities in children and young people's health and wellbeing

This year we’re doubling down to catalyse systemic change and tackle inequalities in three main areas. One key strategic priority that we are committed to focusing on is to promote children’s and young people’s health and wellbeing, using our collective knowledge, skills, and resources to navigate and better understand the role of local partnerships in making the prevention of poor health outcomes a reality.

Using our integrated approach to evidence across systems of health - supporting cancer care responses in children and young people

In 2023, we launched the start of an incredible partnership with leading children and young people’s cancer charities Young Lives vs Cancer, Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group, the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust and Teenage Cancer Trust, to apply an Integrated Approach to research and systems change with children and young people with cancer experience.

NewsBLOG26 February 2024cancer, Young Lives Vs Cancer, Young people, children, partnerships, Rachel Lily, research, families

Looking ahead to our priorities for 2024

In 2024, you’ll hear less about the ‘how’ and a lot more about the ‘why’. As a team, we’ll be steadfast and focused on tackling inequalities in the outcomes and experiences of children and young people and doing so via equitable approaches to advancing systemic change.

News, SystemsBLOG15 February 2024Systems Thinking, systems change, Systems, Tim, Strategy, research, children, earlyyears, Young people, Youth work, Youth violence

Passing the baton of systems change

Throughout our partnership with Inclusion as Prevention we’ve engaged with 98 young people to design and improve services, and early intervention for young people with experience of the justice system. It is estimated that a further 300 also participated through surveys and attending workshops. We’ve tackled challenges, overcome barriers, and learned together as a team to understand the system in South Lanarkshire, to ensure young people aren’t just supported when they enter the justice system, but that the services are there to prevent them from doing so.

Our Learning with PEDAL: Using a Rapid-cycle design and testing to develop the “Playtime with Books” programme

Dartington Service Design Lab partnered with University of Cambridge Centre for Research in Play in Education Development and Learning (PEDAL) to develop new virtual ways to support parents and children to engage in book sharing, which has traditionally been done face-to-face . We are now releasing the final report from this work and sharing our learning for others to put into practice.

Incorporating youth voice into systems change in South Lanarkshire

Over the last five years we have been working to change the systems of support for young people who come into conflict with law in Scotland. We’ve been doing that through co-production with young people to re-imagine the kinds of supports that help keep them included in their communities and in the supports on offer to them. Too often young people are excluded from systems of support when they come into conflict with the law. This project fundamentally reframes the work of prevention and early intervention to be young-person centred and inclusive of their diverse experiences and needs.

Fed up with traditional Theories of Change? Try Dartington’s integrated approach.

There are many different approaches to producing a Theory of Change. It can be a tricky balancing act between bold ambition and feasibility. Go too big, and your Theory of Change feels unattainable and fails to become a useful tool. Get too boxed in by practicalities, and it feels uninspiring.

We’d argue for a Theory of Change to be useful, it must adopt an integrated approach. We talk about the strengths of an integrated approach in our strategy paper launched early last year. We have been attempting to further progress it ever since (with a lot of success, failure, and learning along the way).

Discovering what matters to communities when researching mental health

This Mental Health Awareness Week we’re exploring our role as researchers and designers in projects that centre mental health and wellbeing for young people. We are particularly curious about how we establish the right conditions for exploring these issues with our partners in the work – and how we can best share our lessons with others.

In this blog, we focus on three areas that have become especially important to us at Dartington:

the beginning of the projects and our own standpoint as we begin,
the process of establishing strong relationships that can hold complexity and trust, and
the sustainability and impact of our shared work on mental health.

News, ReflectionBLOG18 May 2023equity, Learning, mental health, research, Design, Catherine-rose, alice, Rachel Lily, Alice Hewson

Dr Julie Harris appointed to the UK Government Evaluation and Trial Advice Panel

Our very own Director of Research, Dr Julie Harris, has been appointed to the UK Government Evaluation & Trial Advice Panel (ETAP) bringing together top evaluation and experimentation experts from across government and academia.

How UK Youth are shaking up funding to improve mental health support for young people

Dartington Service Design Lab has teamed up with UK Youth, a leading youth charity working across the UK with a vision that ‘all young people are equipped to thrive and are empowered to contribute at every stage of their lives’. Together we’re using learning and insight to guide the strategic development of the Thriving Minds Fund over a three-and-a-half-year period.

NewsBLOG23 January 2023research, George Davis, Youth work, UK Youth, mental health, young people, evaluation

Shaping the system to listen to children, young people and families with experience of cancer

We are delighted to announce that we are partnering with leading cancer charities, Young Lives vs Cancer, the Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group, the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust and Teenage Cancer Trust to codesign research and evidence measures, and apply an Integrated Approach to research and systems change with children and young people who have lived experience of cancer.

Using an Appreciative Inquiry Framework: Bridging ‘what is’ to ‘what could be’

Comic Relief’s Rise and Shine programme funds organisations supporting early childhood development for vulnerable families in the UK and globally. Earlier this year, grantees came together for a day of reflection and learning, facilitated by Dartington Service Design Lab, the Learning Partners for the fund.

The goal of the learning event was to create a space where UK Rise and Shine grantees could reflect on what they’ve learnt to date, to inform their planning for the future as the funding programme nears its conclusion.

Deepening conversations around young men's mental health

This year, World Mental Health Day's leading campaign is to ‘make mental health and wellbeing a global priority’. Wellbeing and mental health is a key feature of the work here at the Lab to improve outcomes for children and young people. NHS digital estimate that 1 in 6 young people have a diagnosable mental illness, with many 5 – 16 year olds reporting experiencing low mood, anxiety and eating disorders.

Last year, we joined forces with the Mental Health Foundation, Black Thrive and Colourful Minds on the “Becoming a Man” (BAM) project, a US-born programme developed by Youth Guidance, aimed at exploring and supporting young men to learn and practice impulse control and emotional regulation, among other social skills. Our job as the evaluators is to establish whether and how BAM might be feasible to deliver in Lambeth, South London.

How we’re Changing Up the system to respond to what young people want and need

From training packs for teachers on how to respond to disclosures of abusive relationships, to resources for young people on how to recognise the signs of coercive control, there’s something for everyone to feel better educated on both topics and empowered to take action so that young people and families have their needs met. We’ll be celebrating and sharing the exciting work these young changemakers have been designing – in person – at the #ChangeUp Exhibition in Paisley. This exhibition, open to everyone in Renfrewshire and beyond, is packed with the innovations designed by and for young people and system leaders, to inspire all of us to educate, empower and equalise systems to tackle coercive control and take early action on mental wellbeing.

Reflection: Evaluating digital services to create the “new normal”

This blog reflects on parents’ experiences of services during the pandemic and staff’s hopes and concerns for future delivery. We also share how evaluation has helped organisations understand these, and how it can be used to shape delivery in the future.

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