Social Services
Working group in the DeGEval - Evaluation Society
The Social Services Working Group (AK) of DeGEval sees itself as an exchange forum for people involved in evaluation in the social sector. The subject of the discussion is the reflection of evaluation practice and its methodological and content-related further development.
In order to be able to narrow down the broad field of social work, the working group concentrates on the aspect of service provision and less on questions regarding organizational principles or the professionalization of social work. These topics only become the focus of the evaluation if they have consequences for the provision of services.
The AK is open to dealing with topics that arise from the specific object of evaluation of service provision in the social sector. This situation is characterized by four features:
- Involvement of different stakeholders in measures and programs;
- Consideration of the user perspective as part of the mechanisms of action in the social sector;
- Self-evaluation as an established (reflective) practice in the social sector;
- Interfaces between social and pedagogical, legal, financial or health policy topics in evaluation.
Consequently, the working group works transdisciplinary and is open to exchange with other working groups of DeGEval or professional societies (such as the German Society for Educational Science - DGfE or the German Society for Social Work), in which evaluation of social fields of work is also the subject of scientific discourse.
The working group participates with at least one session at the annual conferences of the DeGEval. In the case of cross-cutting topics, the aim is to hold an additional session with another working group as part of the annual conference. In addition, the working group regularly organizes specialist conferences in cooperation with other stakeholders.
The working group is represented within DeGEval and externally by a team that currently consists of three spokespersons. The current contact details can also be found on the working group homepage.