How we are building our learning community

CoLab was first conceived as a Collaborative Community and Social Laboratory, emphasising the two main pillars of our work: partnerships and experimentation. The following describes our approach to understanding and evaluating our work, one which emphasises learning as a tool for change (rather than monitoring outcomes) and focuses on building a community of practice. This framework is aspirational, it is what we consider to be best practice. However, much of this work to change the culture of public service evaluation within CoLab has begun.

1. Nurturing collaboration

CoLab is a community of people who work for numerous statutory and charitable organisations, and the people they support. We create spaces for people to actively participate in this community, learn together and collaborate on issues that are important to them. This approach aims to be inclusive and deeply democratic. Strong relationships are foundational to learning and should be valued highly.

We are currently utilising ‘A Guide to Collaboration’, developed by Collaborate CIC to frame our collaborative practice.

2. Embracing complexity

We work within a complex system. Complex systems have “many different parts that are highly interconnected and interdependent”. They cannot be controlled and are often unpredictable. It is important that our approach to learning and evaluation acknowledges and embraces complexity.

This is inspired by complexity theory, and its application to public service through the ‘Human Learning Systems’ approach.

3. Action and learning together

We engage in action research which aims to achieve change through simultaneously taking action and seeking knowledge. Action research often encompasses devised cycles of action, reflection, learning and planning, although in practice much of these activities are overlapping.

Participatory action research has a long history as an alternative or activist approach to research which challenges the power dynamics inherent in scientific design.

4. Valuing qualitative, as well as quantitative data

We use both qualitative and quantitative methods to understand complex problems. We value experiential knowledge, narrative or lived experience. Qualitative research helps us to understand the relationships between different elements of complex systems.

5. Thinking long-term

We understand reducing inequalities and achieving social change is a long-term project. We may not be able to understand the full impact of our work if our evaluations are based on short timescales. The following saying brings hope and perspective when considering the impact of our work: “A society grows great when people plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit.”

Read the full impact report here.