A preliminary evaluation of the ‘Working with Young Adults’ training for Probation Practitioners

This document reports the findings from a preliminary, small-scale evaluation of a pilot training course called ‘Working with Young Adults’, which is aimed at upskilling practitioners in using the ‘Choices and Changes’ interventions. This is in line with the House of Commons Justice Committee’s (2016) recommendation that there should be a distinct approach to the supervision of young adults in the criminal justice system.

The training was informed by a literature review conducted by Dr Zoe Cross in 2019. This led to the design of a biopsychosocial, evidence-informed training package, aimed at equipping Probation Service practitioners with the skills, confidence and knowledge to be able to best work with, and address the specific needs of, Young Adults (18-24 years of age) who are under probation supervision.
Specifically, this evaluation set out to (a) explore the course organisers’ understanding of the aims of the course, as well as their views about how it had gone in practice and whether it would benefit from any changes: (b) gather attendees’ experiences and views about the course: why they volunteered for it, and what they thought about its content and format; and (c) identify any impact the training had on them in terms of confidence, knowledge, and skills.