Teaching or Nannying?

When starting a family teaching will appeal as I can locate anywhere and the job fits better with having your own children.

Norland is highly recommended though.

How much do your degrees cost these days? Norland, teaching etc

I'm a shy, introverted teacher. In social situations I'm quiet as a mouse but put me in front of my class and I'm happy as anything and full of confidence. I'm not exactly buzzing with excitement for lesson observations but it doesn't fill me with dread having people watch me.

My professional self is very different to my personal self and I see teaching as often something of an act, and one that you get more skilled at putting on the longer you're in the job. You certainly don't have to be the life and soul of a party to be the life and soul of the classroom.

Your confidence grows with time. Yes to start with it's daunting to stand in front of a class of children and you worry if they'll listen and do as they're asked. Ultimately though most children, especially younger ones, want to do the right thing and please you and you learn strategies to deal with the ones that perhaps don't.

Nannying is not a career - Nannies are amazing, but it is a job. To get paid a lot you are at the beck and call of a family. It can be great when you’re young, but it’s rarely for life. And If you are bright enough to teach, you’d more than likely get bored.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I personally consider this to be absolute rubbish.

Nannying is a great job. Unlike, most other childcare jobs it is well paid (around £45,000 for a normal family, upwards of £60,000 if you go for a 'high profile' family). If you find the right family you can have great experiences, a lot of freedom and control and really make a difference to children's lives. You can be financially well-off, but underprivileged in other ways.

If you want to work with the financially under privileged then nannying is not for you.

I have never been a teacher so can't comment, but would recommend you ask over on the teaching board, I think it's called 'The Staff Room'.

The downsides of being a nanny are:

There is little career progression. This is great early on because you earn good money almost straight away, but not so much down the line when you're still earning the same with 20 years experience.

The hours are long.

You need to constantly look for new jobs, children grow up and don't need a nanny very quickly. No job security really. It's hard bonding with kids and then having to move on.

You're tied to being in a big city, which can mean a high cost of living.

If you end up with a bad family, it's not nice.

It can be difficult to change career because it's quite a specific skill set. It's not a job that's easy to do into your 50's or 60's so worth thinking long term.

There are lots and lots of other jobs working with children, it doesn't have to be teaching or nannying. I would go to University and do a degree in something you enjoy but that is flexible to a range of career choices. You also don't have to make the choice now. Be a nanny for a bit and then teach. Or teach and then be a nanny.

I would consider speech and language therapy or OT, if I could start all over.

Then you need to be a teacher

No, she really doesn’t! It doesn’t work like that. There are many other more suitable jobs out there.

Remember those aren’t the only two jobs in the world.

It doesn’t sound like you want to be a nanny if you are wanting to ‘make a difference’ to under privileged children. That’s fine. That doesn’t mean you should be a teacher though.

As a teacher of many years-I wouldn’t recommend it to my worst enemy and if you hate the thought of teaching 30 children whilst being watched by numerous adults, I would drop that as an option asap!

i was struggling with the idea of working with more privileged children and not being able to help the ones who may be in a more disadvantaged position with less fortunate backgrounds,

Then you need to be a teacher. No one who is not incredibly privileged can afford a nanny.

It's definitely worth getting your degree and teaching qualification, and maybe doing a couple of years teaching.

You can probably earn more nannying though, £40-50k is common in London though so are 10-12 hour days! You will have lots of opportunities to travel and work abroad, and with a teaching background you can look at governess jobs too.

I was a career professional nanny for 20%yrs

Only changed to maternity and nights so when I was a mum I could be there daytime for my child and not have to wake them up at 6am to take to work etc

Nannying and teaching are very different

30 kids would drive me nuts and I think dd now 4 at school teacher is amazing to deal with them all

OP. I went to uni at 18 to do a degree in education. I soon realised that I didn't want to be a teacher but I don't feel that my degree was a waste. I learnt SO much. And I loved uni and if I could do it all again I would. I made some of my best friends at uni and had some of my best life experiences. There isn't a time like it.
I did some part time nannying at uni and I kind of grew from there. For a few years I wasn't sure if it was what I would carry on doing but I've just continued building my name up and I've never ever been out of work. It is a scary time when parents don't need you anymore and I'll admit that that is one of the downfalls of the industry but it has always worked out for me and I've never had a gap! I can't see myself switching careers anytime soon.

I will say that the hours are often long with nannying. I do 11+ hour days and being out of the house that long can sometimes be tough but I've now dropped a day and couldn't be happier. When do you have to decide about the degree? Could you do some part time nannying soon to see how you find it?

Good luck!

Training as a teacher would be a great bonus to any job working with children.

From there you could consider other options. Speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, maybe teaching or working with children with special needs/special educational needs would interest you? That tends to be smaller groups, more personal relationships and you’d be making a massive difference.

Teaching isnt really the best family compatible career. The retention rate in teaching is rubbish. Many schools try to get rid of older staff and many many leave after having children.

Teaching is often now a pre-child career it seems.

For longevity salt/psych/ot really would be better.

Train as a teacher and do your NQT year. That will help you get the best paid nannying jobs in London and abroad. Then once you have a family and want to settle down you can go back to teaching.

Would also recommend considering speech and language therapy or occupational therapy. Saying this as an ex primary school teacher

Being a professional nanny is not ‘babysitting’. But people who nothing about it tend to throw out comments like that, it’s so ignorant.

Babysitting/being a nanny is not a career. Consider other child oriented careers like a OT, a SALT or a physiotherapist.

Hi op, I work in a childcare. Not nannying, but still in the same line of work. Honestly I wouldn't recommend childcare. I love my kids but it's a huge amount of responsibility with buttons for pay and minimal holiday entitlement. The hours can be long and honestly I think far too much is expected from childcare workers a lot of the time.

I haven't been a teacher or a nanny but I have been a 3 year old with a temporary "teacher" who I now know was 16. She was really, I guess, a TA who covered while our regular teacher was with another class (private school in the 1970s so different to today), but we were all a bit in awe of her and saw her as a teacher, or certainly an adult who was in charge of us. I only found out how young she was a few years ago. She was actually the teacher's niece but we didn't know that. Don't let your age put you off - in an Early Years setting your class will probably think you are ancient!

I wouldn't recommend teaching and I certainly wouldn't recommend a teaching degree. The retention rate in teaching is horrendous and far more would leave if they could see a way out. Even if you end up in a good school, all that can quickly change with a new head or when you become too expensive.

If you really want to train to teach, do another degree first and then do a PGCE. It doesn't really matter what the first degree is in, in theory it needs to be relevant to the curriculum, but it's not usually an issue in reality. That way you have a fallback later if you decide not to continue in teaching.

Id suggest chrildrens nursing or OT or SALT
All these make a huge difference to children.

Nannying is not a career - Nannies are amazing, but it is a job. To get paid a lot you are at the beck and call of a family. It can be great when you’re young, but it’s rarely for life. And If you are bright enough to teach, you’d more than likely get bored.

It’s natural at your age (any age really!) to feel getting up in front of a class of kids is intimidating, but you will find that gradually goes. Confidence comes from doing things, and you won’t do well in life if you avoid everything that scares you.

Might be worth looking at special needs teaching (smaller classes, more one on one), speech therapy.. even children’s nursing.