Guidance for Evaluating Public Legal Education

The Public Legal Education Network (Plenet) commissioned a PLE Evaluation Framework to promote robust evaluations of the impact of PLE interventions, so that over time we develop a better understanding of what works and why and to provide a sound basis for forward planning. This Guidance is intended to accompany the PLE Evaluation Framework.

The Framework includes a core set of evaluation goals, measures, questions and research methods for evaluating PLE which can be used in conjunction with this Guidance. The Framework also discusses some of the broad issues that need to be considered when evaluating PLE, the different target audiences in PLE, and the possible wider impacts of PLE that projects and programmes might think about capturing.

The focus of the PLE Evaluation Framework and this accompanying Guidance primarily reflect project or programme evaluations that assess and measure outputs, outcomes and impacts (this is called a ‘managerialist’ approach to evaluation). Other approaches to evaluation that Law for Life is interested to explore focus on the evaluation of practice (rather than the evaluation of particular projects or programmes), in which learners and educators can reflect on what is being done and the extent to which things are working well. Some of the issues and research methods are common to both.