The discussion about the nature of a final programme report, its format, audience, general
content, and the people who are to be responsible for its preparation is best done during the
preliminary planning phases of any programme. Educators have a responsibility to their
organisation, the electoral authority, donors or sponsors, and the general public to report on the
programme once completed.
There are examples of electoral legislation that set time limits on the preparation of post
election reports, and such deadlines will also apply to educational programmes sponsored by or
organised on behalf of the electoral authority.
Once It's Over, It's Too Late
The worst time to consider the report is after the educational programme has concluded. By this
time, the motivation for the report is low, information required is not always readily available,
and staff whose comments are required have departed and are now difficult to reach. In addition,
while those conducting face-to-face programmes or engaged in advertising may have built in
post-meeting reaction or assessment systems, or ongoing audience assessment, the relationship
between these and the final report will be unclear. A mass of information, of which only some
might be relevant to the concerns of the final report, will have to be digested, and this takes
additional time and energy.
Preparing for the Report
Having determined at an early stage that a report will be required, staff will be allocated to its
preparation and will begin to block out the necessary areas for collecting information and
reporting. They will also be discussing with those for whom the report is required precisely their
expectations of the report and the manner in which it will be used or made available to the
public.
The purpose of the report will have to be clear from the start. Is it to be a history of the
programme, for example, a day-by-day journal, an overview of highlights, or a thoughtful opinion
by an outsider? In some cases, there may be some inclination to leave the report to those
conducting external evaluations; but the best scenario would be for such evaluators to have the
internal report as part of their documentation.
For the purposes of system learning, reports should be sufficiently anecdotal and descriptive to
enable future educators to understand the context within which the programme took place, and
to provide the necessary experiential information that can be analysed for the development of
general lessons.
Type of Report
There have been a number of fine reports that make the programme review itself an educational
and communication exercise. They use a range of voices to provide different perspectives on
the programme, quotations and reflections from participants, local educators, planners and
administrators. The compendium report enables the reader to reflect on the programme and
serves as a public record of some distinction.
Reports need not be entirely written. Alternative forms of record keeping and narrative have
been used; and these have some advantages in capturing the emotion and humanity of the
programme and conveying this to the public in ways that are perhaps more accessible and
persuasive.
Photographic documentaries, video and audio productions, and the publication of special
magazine issues all provide a record that can be used in conjunction with the more technical
narrative that may be required by statute or by agreement with a funder.
Reports will cover at least the following aspects of the programme:
Reports that are prepared after the event, and that are delayed because of the lack of staff,
information or access to the relevant parties may be useful in preserving a record of the event
but are unlikely to have the formative impact of reports prepared more expeditiously. It can be
argued that such a report benefits from the necessary hindsight that only comes with time. But
such reports become rather academic exercises at that stage with all the disadvantages of such an
exercise.
And they rely quite heavily on contemporaneous records - minutes, journals, interim and daily,
weekly, monthly or quarterly reports. If these have not been prepared, even the delayed
substantive report is at a loss, and the more it is delayed the more difficult it becomes to convey
an accurate record.
Public Accessibility and Transparency
Whichever way the report is conceived--even as a collation of different reports--it is essential
that reports of educational programmes be made available to all stakeholders. A discussion of
the manner for release should be conducted at the same time as the planning of the report so that
a commitment can be made that is not broken by a sudden fear of the content of the report.
If there is a belief that the reports have confidential matters that cannot be shared with the
general public, then there are a number of options open to educators. A public report can be
prepared together with a confidential briefing document for the primary stakeholders. The
report can be separated into a closed technical report and an anecdotal and generally available
one. The report may include an annex which addresses confidential matters, but which it removed prior to its public release. Or, the report can have a date by which it will be made available so that it can first be
considered confidentially. Finally, the primary stakeholders for whom the report has been
commissioned may choose to release it without their endorsement or with a disclaimer as an
addendum.
All the above are compromises that at least enable the public to have access to reports that are
after all in the public interest and about them to a large extent. Hopefully such compromises
may not be necessary. But, in the end, they are better than outright proscription of reports that
occasionally happen when reports contain critical information. The word 'critical' itself
conveys the meaning that makes this such an unfortunate occurrence. These reports often
provide the most important lessons for the general public and for educators at large.
