We were commissioned by the Police and Crime Commissioner for Avon and Somerset to conduct an evaluation of the Teachable Moments Education Inclusion Project.

The Education Inclusion Project was implemented across five sites in Avon and Somerset: Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, North Somerset, Somerset, and South Gloucestershire. It aimed to provide a targeted intervention and support package at the ‘Teachable Moment’ where a young person aged 11-16 is facing a permanent exclusion or managed move due to reasons associated with serious youth violence, child criminal exploitation, or child sexual exploitation. This may include but is not limited to being found with a weapon in schools.

The evaluation report focuses on implementation, referral criteria, disproportionality of exclusions, and variations in delivery across different models used by each local area. Although it was not within the remit of this evaluation to explore outcomes of the project, we identified some emerging evidence that it has begun to deliver positive outcomes for children and young people who have been supported.

We also conducted a parallel impact evaluation of Bristol VRU’s education inclusion work and the findings are available in a separate report.