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In recent years, various social services in the UK have piloted using social pedagogy – a broadly education-based approach to bringing about social change originating in mainland Europe – as a way of improving practice, particularly in residential childcare. Pilot evaluations of initiatives to introduce social pedagogy to children’s services have produced generally positive results, although the evidence remains modest and the studies are affected by a range of methodological limitations. In this article, we critically review existing evaluations, supplemented by insights from our experience as independent evaluators for a social pedagogy pilot for services supporting people with learning disabilities, to present an account of the challenges and opportunities of evaluating social pedagogy in the UK. We argue that some of the main challenges relate to defining social pedagogy, measuring the baseline prior to implementing social pedagogy training, understanding individual and organisational change, measuring outcomes and applying an appropriate approach for the evaluation. We conclude with recommendations for those intending to evaluate social pedagogy, and similar initiatives, in the future.

11 pH Associates Limited, Marlow, UK Background: Patient survival in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) can be improved if patients with metastases confined to the liver are able to undergo liver resection. Resectability of liver metastases was improved in clinical trials of downsizing with chemotherapy plus cetuximab. This study describes the liver resection rate achieved in normal UK clinical practice using chemotherapy plus cetuximab in patients whose tumours were originally deemed inoperable by a Hepatobiliary Multi-disciplinary Team (HPBMDT). Methods: A multi-centre retrospective observational study was conducted in 7 UK hospitals with specialised liver surgical services. Included patients had mCRC with metastases confined to the liver, defined locally as unresectable at first review by the

Use of the technique of acquired tolerance suggests that epidermal cells contain distinctive transplantation allo-antigens—antigens not also possessed by marrow and lymphoid cells.