Welcome to the Preparing For Life Evaluation Website

Preparing for Life is a community-led initiative operated by the Northside Partnership in North Dublin which was evaluated over a 8-year period (2008-2016) by the UCD Geary Institute under the direction of Dr. Orla Doyle. The PFL programme aims to improve levels of school readiness in several designated disadvantaged areas of Dublin, beginning during pregnancy and lasting until the children start school.

The purpose of the programme is to help parents develop skills to help their children in five domains of school readiness:

  • cognitive development
  • physical health and motor skills
  • social, emotional & behavioural development
  • approaches to learning
  • language development and literacy

2008-2016 Evaluation

The programme was evaluated extensively between 2008 and 2016 using a mixed methods approach incorporating both a longitudinal experimental design and a process evaluation. Results from the evaluation showed that the programme improved children’s school readiness at age 5 in terms of their cognitive development, physical wellbeing and motor development, social and emotional development, language development, and approaches to learning.

Click here for the final results from the 2008-2016 PFL evaluation

Age 9 Follow-up Study

In 2019, Orla Doyle and the UCD Geary Institute will carry out a follow-up study of the Preparing for Life programme. This study will examine the impact of the programme now that the children are on average 9 years old (age 7-11).

Click here to find out more about the PFL Age 9 Follow-up Study.