Be all you can be: a research evaluation of Pathways to Extreme Success (PX2) in a Further Education college: supporting the transition to work

This paper outlines a research evaluation of a personal development programme for young people making the transition to work whilst engaged on Get Ready for Work (GRfW) programmes. The project transpired through partnership working between an Educational Psychology Service (EPS) and a local Further Education (FE) College in the context of the implementation of Post School Psychological Services (PSPS) in Scotland. This is the first independent investigation into the efficacy of the Pathways to Extreme Success (PX2) programme, developed by a world-wide organisation The Pacific Institute (TPI), and thus is of international significance. The evaluation model employed was based on the characteristics of the Extended Term Mixed Method (ETMM) evaluation design (Chatterji, 2004) and adopted a mixed methods approach to both data collection and analysis. The overarching ETMM model informed a three strand approach to the research design with Strands 2 (Evaluation of the PX2 materials) and 3 (Impact on GRfW Students) reported here. Strand 3 employed a quasi-experimental design comparing the intervention group of 14 students with a comparison group of 11 students. Eight weeks following commencement of the programme qualitative and quantitative data for both strands were interpreted in light of the environmental evidence. The authors conclude that the programme had a considerable impact on engaged students based on some of the self-report measures and subsequent positive destinations. The wider impact of the project in the FE college and implications for the future application of the PX2 programme nationally and internationally are discussed.