Funded by the Vienna Chamber of Labour, the NPO Competence Centre is conducting a study to demonstrate the social impact of a pilot project in the field of elementary education. The focus of the study and practical partner is the Kinderfreunde Vienna and Austria lighthouse kindergarten, which has recently opened its doors every day to enable the full inclusion of children with special educational needs and to relieve the burden on parents and guardians with a large interdisciplinary team of teachers, therapists and social workers. With an optimised childcare ratio and multi-professional support, children both with and without special educational needs find themselves in an everyday kindergarten environment that is intended to represent the ideal of an elementary education facility and attempts to take the individual needs of all children into account as best as possible as they grow up.

In cooperation with Kinderfreunde Vienna and Austria, the NPO Competence Centre is pursuing the goal of using an impact analysis to determine how and to what extent the lighthouse kindergarten generates added value for society. In particular, the children in care, parents and other guardians as well as the employees of the pilot project are at the centre of attention as those affected by the project. In particular, a focus on autism spectrum disorder runs through the entire study. Methodologically, the first step is to develop an impact model in which the impact chains of those affected are mapped. Subsequently, qualitative surveys are used to determine the extent to which presumed effects have occurred or could occur. In a further step, the qualitatively verified impacts are quantified in order to determine their breadth and intensity. Quantitative primary surveys such as secondary material make the social impact measurable with the help of corresponding impact indicators. A control kindergarten is integrated into the research design in order to establish comparability with facilities with conventional staffing and supervision.

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