Selecting candidates for interview for the Dip HE Child Branch

As part of a study into the selection of students who wished to become children’s nurses, institutions were asked to consider six hypothetical candidates and indicate ‘How likely is it that you would want to interview this candidate for your college’s child branch?’, giving reasons for their decision. Of the six candidates two were considered ‘highly acceptable’ and two ‘unacceptable’ by an expert panel. The remaining two filled the ‘middle ground’. gh there was an overall agreement on the level of acceptability of individual candidates, respondents drew different conclusions from the evidence in the applications. Decisions on suitability for interview were based on both the positive and negative aspects of the application. Candidates’ motivation towards their chosen profession of children’s nursing and their previous experience or knowledge of nursing were the two main factors influencing the likelihood of them being selected for interview.