Teaching integrity in the public sector: Evaluating and reporting anti-corruption commissions’ education function

Abstract

Australia’s state-based public sector standing anti-corruption commissions each have an education function. The function is underpinned by a largely unquestioned assumption that integrity education will reduce levels of misconduct and corruption in the public sector. This study explores how these commissions undertake evaluations and publicly report on the effectiveness of their education events to demonstrate a contribution to this purpose. It acknowledges that well-designed and executed education events may deliver public value outcomes, but finds that the evaluative and reporting approaches used by commissions are insufficient to reliably demonstrate whether or not the function actually achieves this purpose. The dominance of exposure-as-success attendance statistics revealed in this study is particularly concerning as they offer no insights that are directly relevant to this purpose. Consistent with the findings of previous studies, there is also a heavy reliance on reaction-based satisfaction surveys that primarily reflect participants’ enjoyment of an education event, but do not provide meaningful evidence of learning, application of learning, organizational impact, or the overall delivery of public value. As such, it is argued that commissions need to transition from largely superficial appraisals to more robust and strategic assessments that measure actual attitudinal and behavioral change in the public sector. This study also raises questions of broader relevance to the evaluation of other types of workplace education, particularly that requiring affective and behavioral learning.