Youth4U - Young Inspectors: Final Evaluation Report

An excerpt from the report follows:

"The Youth4U - Young Inspectors programme was a two-year project (2009-11) funded by the Department for Education (DfE). Funding and support was provided to 33 areas in England through the Look Listen Change (LLC) consortium. The funding was used to employ a local support worker (LSW) to recruit and train teams of disadvantaged and marginalised young people (aged 13–19, and disabled young people aged up to 25) to inspect and report on services in their area. Young inspectors (YIs) were paid for their work and were accredited using the ASDAN framework. Inspections were based on five national inspection questions:

• Is the service accessible?
• Is the service welcoming?
• Is it clear what the service does?
• How satisfied are young people with the service?
• How are young people involved in the development, delivery and evaluation of the service?

...The evaluation, which was carried out by the NCB Research Centre, monitored the programme’s success in engaging and training young people and completing inspections; and assessed the impact (or perceived impact) of the programme on young people, services and local authorities. Data were collected by carrying out:

• analysis of LSW monitoring data
• baseline and follow-up surveys of YIs
• focus groups with YIs
• interviews with LSWs and their managers
• the monitoring of inspection reports
• surveys and interviews with providers of inspected services.

In addition, the NCB Research Centre recruited and trained a team of Young Evaluators (YEs), aged 11-17, to assist the evaluation team in the design of research tools and in carrying out focus groups with YIs.

Engagement and training of young people

The programme was successful in recruiting over 1,400 marginalised young people, across 32 local authorities in England, with an average age of 16 split evenly between the genders. The majority of young people were from a white background; but in certain areas more than half were from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds (BME). Young people were mainly recruited through the organisations in which LSWs worked or through other local organisations working with particular target groups.

YIs enjoyed the training they received as part of the programme and reported being adequately prepared for carrying out inspections. However, they would have appreciated additional opportunities to carry out practice inspections. YIs felt that they were well-supported by their LSWs. Nearly three-quarters of young inspectors were successfully retained in the programme...

Local authority interviewees felt that the Youth4U - Young Inspectors programme provided a way in which they could raise the profile of young people's participation and strengthen communication between services and service users. Local support workers were satisfied with the initial and ongoing training and support they received from the LCC consortium. The biggest initial challenge was recruiting services to be inspected.

Inspections

By the end of the programme, YIs had carried out 576 initial inspections and 138 follow-up inspections. The types of service most frequently inspected included 'positive activities' (for example, youth clubs); leisure services; information, advice and guidance (IAG) services; and sexual health services.

The role of the LSW in creating positive relationships and 'selling' the idea of improving young people's participation in the service was key to securing inspection opportunities and in overcoming initial reluctance on the part of some service providers.

Overall, YIs reported positive experiences of conducting inspections and found the five key questions provided a useful structure. They particularly valued the team-working involved in inspecting services: this was felt to facilitate learning, mutual support and a widening of social circles. The follow-up inspections where they found evidence that their recommendations had been implemented were particularly enjoyable for the YIs.

Service providers reported a very high level of overall satisfaction with both the initial negotiation process and the actual conduct of inspections. Service providers were also satisfied with the length and quality of inspection reports provided by the YIs; and generally agreed that the recommendations were relevant and useful, although they did not always tell them something new about their service.

Impact on young people

Nearly six out of ten YIs achieved the Young Inspectors Award, and one in seven gained an ASDAN Award of Personal Effectiveness (AoPE) at level one. Whether YIs received accreditation depended in part upon the level of support provided by the LSW: in some areas, no YIs received awards; in others, all of them did.

Surveys indicated that the Youth4U - Young Inspectors had helped some YIs make decisions about their futures. This was supported by feedback from LSWs who described instances where YIs had, through their involvement with the programme, made decisions to re-engage with education. There was a consistent message from YIs that the Youth4U - Young Inspectors programme had helped them to develop skills in many areas including communicating and presenting information, working in a team, setting and achieving goals; and to develop general skills that are useful for employment. Evidence also suggested that being a YI led to greater use of local services. All survey respondents felt that their Youth4U - Young Inspectors experience would help them in securing employment.

Overall, YIs were highly satisfied with the programme. All respondents to the follow-up survey said they would recommend the Youth4U - Young Inspectors programme to their friends.

Impact on services

Recommendations made to services by YIs most commonly referred to improving the appearance of the premises from which they were delivered, the external publicity and marketing of the service, and the information available to service users.

Follow-up inspections (carried out for a quarter of all initial inspections) found that three-quarters of the services they revisited had improved to some degree. Just over half of the recommendations made in the initial inspection reports were found to have been fully or partly implemented. Overall, a large majority of service providers who responded to the survey suggested that being inspected would have a positive impact on the way the service was delivered in the future.

Wider impacts

Just over half of the service providers considered that the inspection process would likely have a positive impact on the wider local authority as well as on inspected services and their users. According to LSWs, the main impact of the programme on the local authorities was to increase the profile of young people's participation. It was felt that the programme had encouraged service providers and senior managers to think about how they could involve children and young people in planning or designing services in the future. It had also provided local authorities with a vehicle through which to deliver their existing requirements to consult with young people.

Reflections and expectations

There was general agreement amongst all those involved that the key strength of the programme lay in the opportunities it provided: for marginalised young people to take the lead and have a voice, develop skills and confidence, and become more fully engaged in their community...."