Social Policy Planning and Evaluation PDF Print

ΚKΠ1 - Social Policy Planning and Evaluation
Tutor: Dimitris Venieris

Semester: 5th
ECTS: 4.5

Short Description:

The aim of the course is to provide students with an understanding of social planning and evaluation as an essential procedure of reasonable, rational and effective social policy making, and includes both principles and methodology of social planning. The course examines the interrelationship between the theory of social policy and the methodology of social planning, i.e. policy analysis, formulation, implementation and evaluation. It presents the principles of social planning, the nature of policy making, governmental structures, models of the planning process. In terms of methodology, the course presents the major social planning techniques, focusing upon cost-benefit analysis and other methods of evaluation.

Aims:

The specific objectives of the course are to:

  • present the main planning and evaluation approaches in social policy intervention
  • identify social, political, financial and organisational factors which are crucial to successful planning in terms of social justice
  • explainthe main issues of the ‘theory of change’ in the implementation and evaluation of social programs
  • interpret the usefulness of indicators in the evaluation of social interventions
  • make students familiar with the criteria of social planning and the standards underpinning the discipline of evaluation

Learning Outcomes:

  • Competence to discern the main goals in the evaluation of social programs
  • Capacity to distinguish and compare the advantages and constraints of the main approaches (experimental, goal-oriented, decision-focused, user-oriented and responsive evaluation) to the evaluation of social policies
  • Acknowledgement of the widely accepted criteria and standards for the application of evaluation projects in social policy

Structure:

13 three-hour lectures

Assessment:

Students will be evaluated on the basis of a written examination at the end of the semester (80%) and an optional report on a topic approved by the tutor of the course (20%).

Bibliography:

  • Esping-Andersen G, Gallie D., Hemerijck A., Myles J (2006), Why We Need a New Welfare State, Dionikos, Athens.
  • Herman J.L., Morris L.L. & Fitz-Gibbon C.T. (1987), Evaluator’s Handbook, London: Sage.
  • Kassimati Κ. (2002), Social planning and evaluation, Athens: Gutenberg.
  • Midgley J. & Piachaud D. (eds.) (1984), The Fields and Methods of Social Planning, London: Heinemann.
  • Walker A. (1984), Social Planning, Oxford: Basil Blackwell.