The SOUL (Soft Outcomes Universal Learning) Project, funded by The Big Lottery Fund, grew out of the needs of both funding organisations and voluntary and community sector (VCS) groups in relation to informal learning. This is learning which does not lead to a recognised qualification and takes place in a wide variety of settings. For the purposes of the project, the term includes personal development initiatives and situations where an individual might not even appreciate at the time that they are learning.
Whilst sector groups active in this area can point anecdotally to considerable gains by clients in terms of ‘soft’ outcomes, such as increased confidence and self esteem, there is a need for an effective system to provide evidence of the learning taking place. There is also concern that funding is being concentrated on ‘hard’ outcomes, such as formal or accredited learning opportunities and access to paid employment. Valuing ‘soft’ outcomes only as a pathway to such ‘hard’ outcomes is considered by many in the sector to miss the positive nature of informal learning.
Equally, funding organisations such as The Big Lottery Fund are increasingly recognising that ‘hard’ outcomes do not give a complete picture of a client or learner’s progress and therefore of a project’s success. There is, in consequence, a growing requirement that groups receiving funding should provide evidence of ‘soft’ outcomes to complement ‘hard’ data.
A group of voluntary organisations in Norfolk therefore took the initiative of devising a research project with The Research Centre, City College Norwich, to achieve a number of objectives, one of which was the development of a system to monitor and measure progression in ‘soft’ outcomes. The SOUL Project received funding from The Big Lottery Fund and commenced in September 2003, continuing to the end of February 2006.
Qualitative and quantitative research methods employed included a literature review, unstructured and semi-structured interviews, observation sessions, workshops, site visits, focus groups and questionnaires involving staff and/or clients in the voluntary and community sector.
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