The SOUL Record

It has always been difficult for organisations to evaluate soft outcomes and to demonstrate how the organisation is enabling service users to progress. Now an easy-to-use evaluation system has been developed as a result of two years’ close collaboration between Norfolk’s voluntary sector and The Research Centre, City College Norwich. It is called The SOUL Record, (Soft Outcomes Universal Learning) and is proving a huge success.

The SOUL Record is learner centred and focuses on solutions rather than problems. The system concentrates on what an individual can do, rather than things they have been unable to achieve and it is intended as a positive experience for learners. Organisations select from a range of questionnaires, worksheets and observational sheets so they can use the resources best suited to an individual client’s needs. Soft outcomes for adults are divided into three main areas: ‘attitude’, ‘personal / interpersonal’ and ‘practical’ whereas for children and young people, soft outcomes may be measured against the five outcome areas of Every Child Matters. By measuring changes in these outcomes over time, organisations are able to show the distance that learners, or groups of learners, have travelled. A Spreadsheet Results Package (SRP) helps organisations collate their results and graphically display them, providing valuable information for funders, management, local government or the clients / workers themselves.

Organisations who trialled The SOUL Record reported that the framework not only provided a soft outcomes measurement, but that it also provides a valuable diagnostic tool and helps workers to 'get to know' new service users. The SOUL Record is a useful resource for both one-to-one work and group work. Talking a client through The SOUL Record is an important part of establishing a relationship with the client and building up trust with vulnerable groups of people. For the organisation, it also helps pinpoint where a client may require extra support or guidance.

Sample pages are shown below with the two questionnaires demonstrating how The SOUL Record may be used as a diagnostic tool:

Above samples are: Adult 'Getting to Know' You Questionnaire, Adult Worksheet, Children Getting to Know You Questionnaire, Children Worksheet and Observing Soft Outcomes Observation Sheet.

The SOUL Record is RARPA (Recognising And Recording Progress And Achievement in non-accredited learning) compliant and has been extensively trialled throughout Norfolk before being released across the UK. One of the great strengths of The SOUL Record is that it has been created by users, for users.

To help users collate results from The SOUL Record, each pack is supplied with a Spreadsheet Results Package (SRP). Results are placed into the system and it calculates totals an averages, before automatically creating graphs for the SOUL Record user. These graphs may be fed back to the client to show progress made, or used as evidence for a funding application or as part of a report to management. Sample screens from the SRP are shown below:

Above samples are: SRP Main Menu, Adult Baseline, Adult Graph, Children Midpoint, & Children Graph