Ask The Experts - Involve young people in interviews

Q: I'm about to recruit for a new service manager for our leaving care team. I want to involve service users in the interviews, but my head of service thinks I'm being tokenistic and can't see the value. How do I persuade him otherwise?

Jeanie Lynch: Involving young service users in recruitment can be done in lots of ways from candidates giving a presentation to a group of young people to involving young people as equal interview panel members.

I have worked with services that have offered thorough training to young people in all aspects of recruitment, enabling them to understand the processes involved and then giving them the opportunity to participate in interviews. I have never failed to be impressed by the nuances young people spot in relation to people's attitudes and values.

Speak to the care leavers and find out if it is something they would be interested in learning more about. If you can show your manager your processes are designed to improve young people's skills and confidence, he should see the benefits.

Jeanie Lynch works for Barnardo's and has 25 years' experience of working with vulnerable children and families

Q: Ofsted says our children's services department has gone from "good" to "inadequate". My chief executive wants to appeal, but I am not so sure. Any advice?

Peter Lewis: The key issue is whether you feel they have reflected the evidence accurately. If they have, the question might be about the evidence they saw and whether you managed that properly.

If you feel the rating does not reflect the evidence, there are chances to challenge this at the verbal feedback and draft report stage. Often that doesn't feel very adequate. But there are provisions for more formal challenges built in the system that are there to be used, so use them.

Ofsted will be shedding a significant proportion of school inspectors because they are not good enough. One reason is they lack leadership experience to bring to the process. There are many directors of children's services who will understand that feeling where no serving or recently-retired director was involved in inspection. So there is room to argue a good case where you can show evidence joins up in ways they haven't seen. Given the penalty for an "inadequate" rating, challenging this decision is worth serious consideration.

Peter Lewis is a freelance providing interim local authority children's services leadership, and a former DCS in Haringey

Q: Every summer, we take young people from our youth club to theme parks, which they love. But my manager has cancelled all trips because of the accident at Alton Towers. Our young members have staged a protest and some parents have complained. What should we do?

Tracie Trimmer-Platman: I can understand why the recent accident might prompt people to cancel theme park trips. However, such incidents are extremely rare.

I would use the young people's reaction in a positive way and encourage them to use their voices. Work with them to research similar accidents and produce a report showing their findings.

When they have the facts, invite their parents and your colleagues to hear what they have found out and explain how they feel about going to the theme parks.

Clearly you must seek your manager's approval for this, but hopefully you can convince them this could be a brilliant project to motivate young members and enable them to develop skills in research, analysis, presentation, public speaking and campaigning for what they believe in.

Tracie Trimmer-Platman is senior lecturer in youth and community work at the University of East London

Q: Do you have any top tips for retaining nursery staff?

June O'Sullivan: The early years sector is facing recruitment and retention issues, especially in London. There has been huge growth since 1997, increasing competition for staff in an already-squeezed sector.

Keys to success include recognising the role of an early years worker is increasingly complex. Low pay is a key issue, so think about how you reward staff generally including sickness and holiday pay and your occupational pension scheme. Many nursery staff work long hours often unpaid, so consider how you might limit this and pay overtime.

Poor management is often a reason for staff leaving. Make sure you have good performance management systems including supervision, address poor practice and attendance, and ensure good staff are valued.

Training and helping staff gain work-based qualifications is a crucial factor. This can help boost confidence, increase knowledge, reduce stress and sickness, and improve morale, job satisfaction and teamwork.

June O'Sullivan is chief executive of the childcare charity and social enterprise, the London Early Years Foundation

Email questions, marked "Experts", to cypnow@markallengroup.com