THRiVE is delighted to be working with the Centre for Research into Educational Under-Achievement (CREU) at Stranmillis University College. We have asked them to help us learn more about what THRiVE is doing well and what we could be doing better. We want to draw on their expertise in education policy, practice and research. And get their help with evaluation and implementation.
The team from Stranmillis are Prof Noel Purdy, Dr Karen Orr and Dr Emilia Symington.
In May, they hosted two Learning Events to tell us what they have found out about THRiVE so far.
Stranmillis CREU have carried out lots of focus groups with children, young people, parents, and THRiVE sub-groups – community workers, school principals and teachers, youth workers, early years practitioners and representatives from statutory organisations.
The findings from these focus groups were shared with people at Learning Event held in Abbots Cross Pres on 27th April.
Parent Champions, school principals, people from government departments and members of different sub-groups from a range of community organisations all their responses to the information presented.
The second event on 23rd May was in Stranmillis and policy makers were invited to hear about the initial findings and the key elements of THRiVE that could be of value to the wider system in NI. People involved in education, councils, health, justice and communities came along to discuss how the learning about collaboration might help in their area of work. We were delighted that Linsey Farrell, Deputy Secretary for Education Policy and Children’s Services, spoke about the importance of departments being curious about the underlying causes of issues, getting closer to communities and having a more empathetic approach to policy making. Michele Janes, Director Barnardo’s NI closed the event acknowledging how THRiVE provides an evidence-based framework for a collaborative approach that can achieve huge outcomes with a small amount of money. The key to success is partnership working, relationships and passion & commitment within communities.
Dr Karen Orr Principal Researcher with Stranmillis said ‘In the current social and economic context, it is more important than ever that policy makers, practitioners, academics, researchers, community leaders and community members work together to tackle the ever evolving societal challenges facing NI communities. The THRiVE model of innovation, collaboration and collective impact offers a prime example of how different agencies can come together to ‘gang up on’ the problems facing some of NI’s most disadvantaged communities. This Learning Event was a perfect opportunity to share this learning and to hear from key policy makers around how this model could help inform their own policies and agendas.’
Stranmillis CREU will take all of these views and prepare a report for THRiVE, with recommendations for next steps.