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staff and teachers. This evidence is then analysed further
through the survey results. Morris Arboretum staff are currently
planning to collect evidence through face-to-face interviews
with the teachers in a more systematic way. As they put it:
‘I think the most successful is meeting face-to-face because
you can dig deeper than with a survey.’
Young people created a ‘play in a day’ Another example of evaluation comes from the ITD-HST
(see page 29). The staff have developed certain criteria for
©at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew internal assessment such as participants’ leadership qualities
Feltham Arts and their ability to work as part of a team. Participants
are given simple tasks which have embedded evaluation
in-house, as with the KEW project. It can, however, be built components, for example: ‘We put them into groups and we
into the funding application of a project and can make a put a leader in each group and we give different responsibilities
structure more appealing to prospective funders, as described and see how effectively they do the work and how effectively
by KEW staff: ‘So the whole project was funded by Heritage they coordinate the job’ (ITD-HST staff). Participants also
Lottery and that funding comes, as usual for the bigger funding have to complete assignments after the first-level course
programmes, in two phases. First Kew secured the first part such as preparing herbarium sheets, collecting raw drugs,
of the funding which is for the development and then you monitoring the population status of certain areas, documenting
will submit a second phase application and that’s where you the traditional knowledge of folk healers, and documenting
actually receive to money to deliver the project.’ (KEW staff) medicinal plants in their study area. Information collected is
then used to help participants reflect on their progress and
During the second stage of the development and improve their performance while the course is still in progress.
implementation of a project audience research can This is an approach that gardens can develop themselves based
play a key role in: on the intended impact of their projects. Alternatively, garden
staff can collaborate with a local university that can help them
1. helping staff to understand the conditions under which the develop a list of impact indicators and evaluation or assessment
project can work; approaches, as exemplified by the latter example from India.
2. refining and improving project activities accordingly; Audience research carried out at the delivery stage of a
3. reflecting on the knowledge constructed through audience
project can vary depending on the nature of the project,
research, and implementing changes that can transform the
organisation itself. its aim, and also certain requirements that must be met
We use two examples to illustrate these points. The Partners for funding purposes. It can include more formal types of
in Education project was developed by Morris Arboretum
(see page 28). This is an ongoing programme which targets assessment. For example, the Oxford BG used portfolios of
under-served, inner city schools that do not typically have
access to green spaces. Arboretum staff evaluate their evidence as part of the accreditation process. Methods used
programme, first informally through debriefing meetings either
at the end or at the beginning of the school year, and second to measure participant learning and knowledge acquisition
through administering electronic or paper surveys to partner
schools. The informal interviews give arboretum staff an overall included photographs to document skills development, and
understanding of the project’s strengths and areas that require
improvement, and they also help to develop a rapport between evaluation forms (or worksheets) to record participants’
understanding of key concepts related to all the stages of
working with plants in the garden (from preparation and
meeting health and safety criteria to understanding the
sequence of steps/tasks involved in planting vegetables
and completing the project). k
CARING FOR YOUR COMMUNITY | A MANUAL FOR BOTANIC GARDENS 25
