Spring Fever: Process evaluation of a sex and relationship education programme for primary school pupils

In primary schools in England, programmes of Sex and RelationshipsEducation (SRE) are rare. Provision has been judged as requiringimprovement in over one-third of these schools at a time whenstatutory provision has been mandated by the government. The aimof this study was to examine the early implementation of Spring Fever,a programme of primary school SRE, in terms of reach, fidelity, dose,recruitment and context. Data were collected through a teachers’feedback form (n = 10), teachers’ focus group (n = 9); a parent diary(n = 7), parents’ interviews (n = 5), parent feedback (n = 41) and pupilfeedback (n = 24). Reach was high with few pupils withdrawn. Fidelityto the lesson plans and achievement of learning objectives was highfor most school years. Pupils enjoyed the programme and respondedwell. It was clear that learning had occurred but that pupils had beenuncomfortable with some topics. Teachers were largely positive aboutthe programme. Parents felt that it was age-appropriate, informativeand handled sensitively. This is the first process evaluation of primaryschool SRE. Detailed descriptions of process evaluation are uncommonin the literature but this is vital for identifying issues pertinent to thefuture roll-out and evaluation of programmes.