good nanny and top nanny

All qualified nannies should be working in line current research on how children learn best and obviously putting the child's needs at the forefront of everything they do.

I don't know very much about Chiltern (I looked into applying there but they didn't offer a degree course) and don't know of any other specialist nanny colleges so I can't say what they teach there but being a nanny is about creating a stable and consistent home environment for a child/ren when their parents cannot be there so I'd imagine that they too would encourage their students to work with parents.

Norland particularly has a reputation for being very traditional and old-fashioned but the training has really moved with the times whilst still retaining high standards for their students and their work.
I think Norland sometimes conjures up images of Victorian nannies in starched uniforms who demand good manners and command respect by being quite forceful and scary they're not really like that at all!
We're taught how to play and how to get the most from children by being gentle and respectful of them and their wishes and needs.

I don't mean to bang on about it or sound like I'm trying to give you the hard sell. I apologise if it comes across that way. I'm simply trying to answer your question as best I can and condense my training into something simple, concise and readable. Tell me to stop at any point!

I think the habits come down far more to the parents of the child and the nanny herself.

Because of our training and our academic studies that looked at the way in which children learn the nannies on my course are all very much about fostering independence and encouraging children to do things for themselves as far as possible and teaching them how to do the things they're can't yet do alone. This also extends into play and letting them decide (within reason) what they would like to do and planning activities that are in line with their interests. We were always encouraged to take children outside whatever the weather (our mantra being "there's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing!") and NO screentime for under 3s and as little as possible for older children. Obviously, this is ultimately down to the parents and my LO watches 20mins before bed and occasionally on long car journeys and when he's ill (although parents allow more and it's done no harm) We did a big project on traditional children's birthday parties and hand made invitations and thank you cards were encouraged.

Overall, though we were taught to work in line with the parents and their expectations. I think I have higher expectations re things like manners than my LO's parents, though and so insist on them when he's with me. It mostly comes down to personality, I think.

I know the year below us when I was in year 2 of my course were doing the NNEB in modular form, with an test at the end of every module. As oppose to the way I did it as course work to be passed plus exams at the end of the course which also had to be passed. I always thought the modular sounded easier as less studying and revision if only studying one subject at a time, as oppose to us having 2 years to recap! I still remember hours revising, mock exams to practice, lots of making flash cards to test each other etc etc

If the NNEB merged with Cache in 1994, that modular form NNEB didn't last long, just 2 years, makes me wonder if they trialed it and it didn't really work, hence the merge. Would love to know the reasons behind the changes and eventually merge and consequent dissappearance. It was still a popular course where I was.

All I can find is this from CACHE:

When the Second World War ended in 1945, many women who had worked during the war stayed on in their jobs. The Government recognised that professional child care was a priority, and the National Nursery Examination Board (NNEB) was founded. In 1994, the NNEB merged with the Council for Early Years Awards, and CACHE was formed.

Over these 65 years, we have continually invested in high quality qualifications. Written and developed by experts they have proved to be successful for millions of learners, earning us a reputation for excellence and leadership across the sector.

Today our continued dedication to nurture the achievement of all those who care for children, young people and adults means our qualifications will always meet the needs of a modern workforce.

havnt a clue, as i said that was the college course and qual you did for 2years if wanted to be a nanny

think the namcw was a 1 or 2 year course depending what you studied, that was about nneb time but again scrapped

all seem to be 1 course nvq and btec now

This thread is v interesting to me as a parent: hiring a nanny I had no idea what any of these things are! Luckily it turns out that the lady we liked best has NNEB, which from this thread seems to be a good one! Does anybody know why it was scrapped??

I don't think any of my class got to do maternity work in a hospital. Not sure I would have liked it back then, newborn babies is something I have got to like over the years, possibly since caring for one 3 days old.

I did maternity work nick in my local hospital. Loved it. Think that's why I enjoy doing night nannying with ickle babies

We did 6 days in college and 4 in placement - so mon to fri and the following mon in college then alturnite tue to fri in placement

Ditto testorossa. When I did the nneb 1989-1991 I did all the things she did and think the driving was the only thing our course /college didn't do

I was told when I wanted to be a nanny to do the nneb as that was the childcare course. Parents knew If you were a nneb you were serious and wanted to be a nanny.

Not sure why they stopped the nneb and did btec and nvq

When I did the NNEB/CACHE Diploma in Nursery Nursing in 96-98 I remember making something which showed sewing skills. There were certainly classes in cookery/nutrition and hygiene, child development, child safety in the home/car/out and about, childhood illnesses (we had a health visitor as our lecturer for that module), practical skills (using dolls, but also the health visitor brought in their own baby). There was also an IT module but I didn't do that as had a HND in Computing so automatically passed that (I guess that was the course leaders).

Variety of placements - Two childminders, a nursery, a pre-school and an infant school in my case I recall. No maternity hospital alas. It was 3 days in college, 2 days on placement.

These days courses seem to be done mostly whilst people work, or is that just those in nurseries? I do wonder if there is the variety of placements that there was 15-20 years ago. Getting placements is tricky, initially I had trouble as no one would consider me (being a bloke), this was pre-CRB days, so I got placements via people I knew - fortunately I knew some childminders, pre-school leader and reception class teacher and the college I was at had it's own nursery. These days do colleges find placements for students, or do they have to find their own?

They do seem to change the courses quite often these days. There is a new course I think which started this year which is replacing all the old ones so everyone now does the same course. Think that's the idea. I think this is the new one - Diploma for the Early Years Workforce (Early Years Educator).

Government Speech says that "To improve qualifications at level 3 we have developed robust criteria for new early years educator qualifications. Work is progressing very well and NCTL and Ofqual have already approved the first seven qualifications submitted by awarding organisations. These I am delighted to say, are of a high standard and will be available for September 2014."

So I guess that means there are 7 courses which all meet the same criteria. So still no single course with one examination board but it looks like there is a single criteria for the course, so different exam boards will be doing pretty much the same course.
Found the Criteria for Level 3 EYE

Looking at Qualifications Search my NNEB/CACHE Diploma is no longer showing up as being valid and I expect the same will be true for many of the old courses. Does that mean they are not valued anymore... maybe so in nursery environment but in home environment they may be valued greatly as they were probably more care based, rather than education based. Is that fair to say... did the old courses have more care things in them than the new courses do?

I have a lot of respect for those who hold an NNEB qualification as that is the one that, IME, is held by those who are serious about working with children.

It is because of the vast number of "qualifications" avaliable and the varying standards of courses that the Nutbrown Review was carried out not so long ago and why so many nannies are campaigning for regulation of the sector.

It makes me angry that teaching and nurturing young children in their formative years is not seen as a "proper job" and people think anyone can do it.

It's such a shame if that's the case, why should they make looking after children the easy way of hoovering up those who failed at whatever else? We're looking after the next generation, somebody's precious offspring, doing our best to provide a stable nurturing environment, not sitting on a sofa drinking coffee, watching TV and wondering how to become famous! It's no wonder some people don't consider nannying a proper job, lost count of the times I've been asked when I'm going to get a proper job, how hard can it be, you just play all day etc etc Having easy to do courses available just compounds that view, so can understand why people think Norland = top notch nanny.

I'm proud of my NNEB qualification and training and happily wear my nanny hat, fortunately I also have a fantastic nanny family who value and respect both my training and experience.

I think the NNEB is still more highly regarded than anything that has come in to replace it. Part of the problem is that they change the courses and the content so frequently that they don't get a chance to build up a reputation or become established.

The other problem is that now we have this obsession with everyone having some kind of qualification. Some people are not capable of gaining a comprehensive qualification and so they've invented ridiculously easy qualifications to tick a box. The NNEB was just the NNEB, the NVQ has levels so it starts of very easy/basic. The ICP exam which is the minimum qualification you need to become Ofsted registered is beyond ridiculous. This is also why low achievers/those that failed GCSE art get pushed into childcare.

Oh and the way we studied was 3 days at college and 2 days on placements every week, though special needs and hospital placements were as a 2 week block. Do courses these days not include regular placements?

I did my training in York, at a further education college. The tutors were all fantastic, knowledgable, enthusiastic and very supportive. I have fond memories of all of them. This was the 'old school' NNEB diploma in childcare course, which no longer exists, ours was the last year before modules came in and replaced the end of course exams, which had to be passed. I do wonder if the replacement courses are as good or as thorough as the training we did? No Idea though, not having done them! Even now agencies tell me that the NNEB is still recognised and regarded as a high standard as a childcare qualification. I remember asking if it the NNEB was considered an out of date and old qualification now, to be told no definitely not, still well regarded and valued.

Maybe I was lucky to get a place on the course at such a good place for training, maybe down to the NNEB having a high standard expected for Passing the course. it was considered the best childcare qualification to get back in the day! From what I know of childcare courses now there does seem to a huge plethora of courses available, and that makes me wonder if standards for gaining a qualification aren't as high now as so many routes in to childcare are available, as I said when I trained the NNEB was practically the only childcare course around, hence why it was so over subscribed.

That's the point isn't it. Norland guarantees all that, it's a mark of quality. No-one is saying that no other childcare course covers those things, but there is no guarantee; some will, some won't.

If you got 100 Norland nannies and 100 non-Norland nannies, the overall standard of the Norland nannies would be higher. That doesn't mean that on an individual level every single Norland nanny is better than every single non-Norland nanny.

Sounds like you found a fantastic college to study at!! I'm sorry to say that the childcare course at my local college had a reputation for taking on people who wanyed an "easy" option because they didn't do very well in their exams or simply couldn't think of anything else to do.

I searched high and low for an Education or Early Childhood degree that appealed to me but they all appeared to be classroom based and I wanted something much more hands-on. Norland was the only one like that that I could find.

Nannynim, on my NNEB course in 1991 - 1993, I did classes in sewing, cookery/nutrition, hygiene, craft lessons, storytelling, child development, child safety in the home/car/out and about, social studies, observations, first aid, childhood illnesses, practical skills, (ie making formula, supporting breast feeding, changing nappies, feeding and winding a baby, dressing a baby/child, ) the educational value of play, how to plan and do topic work, how to plan outings, and a variety of placements - homes, nurserys, schools, special need schools, hospitals...

Think the only difference to Norland is residential placements and advanced driving skills.(someone correct me if I'm wrong)

True though, regardless of training, you only really start learning when you start working.

Well explained nannynim

The course is the same as what you can do in any college, although I think that's changed as of this year. But there are lots of other extra lessons taught at Norland that are what makes it unique and special.

Hellenbach, it might have been the same qualification but was it the same training? Norland also have sewing lessons, cookery lessons, residential placements, storytelling workshops and lessons in formula feeding, breastfeeding and travelling with children.

I'm not saying that necessarily makes their students any better a nanny than your students but to point out that the formal qualification is not all they walk away with.