Big interview: A pioneer of participation - Dame Mary Marsh, chief executive, NSPCC

As a geography student from a family of doctors, Marsh did not have a clue what she wanted to do. But she did want to do something that helped others. Forty years later, she is to be made a Dame in recognition of her services to children and families, an accolade she receives at Buckingham Palace today (Wednesday).

Marsh's services to children and young people started in 1968, more by chance than design, when she became a teacher. It was her second teaching post in 1969 at the progressive St Christopher School in Hertfordshire that showed her schools are more than just places for academic learning.

The school placed an emphasis on student self-government, a stark contrast from the style of the formal academic girls' school Marsh attended. "I really liked the whole approach and learned the importance of the student voice," she recalls.

Involving young people is a passion that has remained with Marsh. In later years, she introduced a student charter to two mixed comprehensives where she was head teacher from 1990 to 2000.

The charters set out what the school expected of young people and what they could expect from the school, as well as where they could go for help and support and the role that parents should play.

The experience made Marsh a firm believer in the potential of pupil participation to improve schools: "After a while, a dialogue was established, where instead of complaints, you started getting suggestions and solutions. You were engaging them and the schools were better for it."

Marsh says she is in favour of compulsory school councils, "as long as they were done properly. Young people would rapidly revolt against something that's tokenistic."

Marsh was a pioneer of the concept of multi-agency, co-located working , which the Government later shaped into the Every Child Matters green paper. In 1998 she developed an inclusion project, at Holland Park in West London, which brought together a range of professionals within the school, including a full-time social worker, youth workers and learning mentors, linking up with local child and adolescent mental health services.

The experience made her a strong advocate for the value of youth workers within schools: "It was very useful to have different opportunities for students who find managing their learning challenging and whose behaviour problems may put them in danger of being excluded."

Marsh brought this experience into national policy development three years later in 2001. As recently appointed chief executive of the NSPCC, she got together with Rob Hutchinson, the then chair of the Association of Directors of Social Services' children and families committee, to debate how agencies could work together to protect children and young people as the Victoria Climbie inquiry got under way.

Representatives from more agencies, such as the Local Government Association, joined the discussions, morphing into the influential Interagency Group, which actively contributed to the Every Child Matters agenda. And the group continues to shape the implementation of the Children Act 2004.

Looking back at her seven years leading the NSPCC, Marsh lists achievements including the success of the eight-year Full Stop appeal in hitting its 250m target, announced earlier this month.

Her plans include relaunching in May Don't Hide It, a campaign encouraging young people to speak out about sex abuse, as well as expanding ChildLine.

She says: "There's a lot to be done if young people know where to go, who to ask, who and when to tell."

FYI

- Mary Marsh has been the NSPCC's chief executive since September 2000

- She is 60, has four sons and lives in Greenwich

- Marsh gained an MBA in general management from the London Business School in 1989

- She is a member of the Learning and Skills Council's national council, honorary president of the University of Nottingham's students' union and a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts.