Gender Equality Taskforce in Education and Learning: Theory of Change report

How we did it

During the project inception period a workshop session plan was developed. A draft session plan was agreed with Scottish Government officials.

The session plans incorporated feedback from a survey of Taskforce members we carried out prior to workshop delivery. The survey enabled us to gain some insight into the dynamics, understandings and consensus within the Taskforce, which then supported us to design the workshops iteratively as the programme progressed.

To allow for engagement with all Taskforce members, we also developed activities for an asynchronous group (comprised of members who were unable to attend the workshop Webex sessions in person), as well as provided reflections and prompts between sessions.

Due to the difficulty in gaining pre-workshop feedback from the surveys (only eight responses were received), the first two sessions focused on seeking clarification and working towards consensus with Taskforce members, particularly around definitions, Taskforce understandings of outcomes and activities, and the scope of the Taskforce.

Three workshops with the Taskforce were delivered. The workshops were delivered remotely, with Taskforce members participating virtually. Tools including Webex were used to create a shared collaboration space. The workshops and asynchronous group covered a number of topics including vision setting, mapping of activities, relationship of outcomes to each other and activities, and prioritisation of levers of change.