UK resilience programme evaluation: final report

The UK Resilience Programme (UKRP) aims to improve children’s psychological well-being by building resilience and promoting accurate thinking. Three local authorities launched it in the 2007 to 2008 academic year with workshops delivered to year 7 pupils in secondary schools. This report presents findings from the UKRP evaluation, commissioned by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (now the Department for Education). The evaluation aims to investigate whether the programme (previously trialled in small samples) can be delivered at scale and whether it has an impact on children’s well-being, behaviour, attendance and academic attainment. Information on pupils’ well-being was collected through questionnaires administered to pupils who had participated in the first year of UKRP workshops and to a control group. Pupils were surveyed before and after the programme. The quantitative work examines the impact on the original cohort of pupils (those in workshops in 2007-08) over a three year period. In addition, interviews with pupils, facilitators (workshop leaders) and school managers were carried out in 10 of the 22 secondary schools involved in the programme at the end of the 2007-08 academic year, and follow-up interviews were carried out in 9 of these 10 schools in the autumn term of 2009-10. .