Using Core Components in Process Evaluation: Passport Skills for Life

by Melek Alemdar, Pamela Qualter, Michael Wigelsworth, Annie O’Brien, Suzanne Hamilton, Neil Humphrey Although school-based SEL programmes show robust effects in controlled studies, their real-world impact varies due to inconsistent implementation. Core components (CCs), the essential theory or evidence-based elements required to reliably produce intended effects, offer a framework to address this gap.

A CC-informed approach can shift evaluation from whether a programme was delivered to how its active ingredients functioned in context and how well. We conducted a two-phase qualitative process evaluation of Passport: Skills for Life, integrating top-down and bottom-up evidence.

Phase 1 involved systematic analysis of manuals, lesson plans, and resources to distil practice and instructional CCs. Phase 2 examined enactment via non-participant observations (n = 12) and semi-structured teacher interviews (n = 9) across four primary schools in North-West England.

Data were analysed using deductive content and thematic analyses. We identified five practice and seven instructional CCs.

Core practices—coping, self-awareness, and social awareness—were typically delivered, whereas more complex interpersonal skills (help-seeking/giving, relationship skills) were seldom observed.