Access to Childcare Fund: phase 2 - evaluation report

Appendix One: Detailed objectives

In order to meet the aims set out, the specific objectives for the research were:

1. How have Access to childcare funded-projects been delivered in practice?

a) What approaches / models have projects adopted? How did these differ from previous models and approaches?

b) What innovative approaches were adopted, including around joint/partnership working, community collaboration, and collaborative working with families?

c) How did each project seek to make childcare more accessible, flexible and affordable for parents? What specific barriers to access were projects seeking to address (and how)? What specific outcomes was the project intending to achieve?

d) How were projects targeted and promoted (particularly to each of the TCPDP target groups)?

2. What has the impact of the projects been for children, parents and families (especially those in the TCPDP target groups)?

a) Who has and has not engaged with the projects – what has their reach been, especially to TCPDP target families?

b) How successful were projects in tackling barriers to participation? What barriers remain (for TCPDP target groups)?

c) What evidence is there of projects impacting on key outcomes, including: parental employment; parental health and wellbeing; children’s health and wellbeing; children’s relationships (with parents, peers, and others – e.g., teachers); family financial circumstances? (How) do these outcomes vary between different families (TCPDP priority groups)?

d) Which elements of projects (including family support elements) contributed to these outcomes and how?

e) What unexpected consequences did projects have, whether for providers, stakeholders, parents, children and families, or others?

3. What are the key lessons from delivery of the Access to childcare projects for a future system of school age childcare across Scotland?

a) What projects/elements of projects worked more and less well, why, and for whom?

b) (How) have projects changed as a result of monitoring and reflection? What lessons around monitoring, evaluation and learning are there to inform future planning and delivery?

c) Drawing on learning across the evaluation, what are the key issues and recommendations for a wider system of school-age childcare in Scotland?