Hiring nanny without qualifications....opinions?

Go with your gut instinct. If you like the nanny and shes good with both children I say go for it. I am a nanny without any formal qualifications. I turned down college to get out into the working world and I have learned a hell of a lot more without the help of a textbook!!

good point phraedd ;) (with turning the question other way round)

Ive been a nanny for 8 years now after doing my nneb at college. I have learnt far more through working than i could of ever learnt at college or from a book. I would insist in first aid certificate but if they have expirence then a trial would be the best way to go. you could also see if she would be willing to go to a course in child care as a evening thing or a class more to do with special needs. Plus being qualified doesnt necessary mean that they are good at their job! good luck!

"By imananny on Sat 06-Sep-08 09:20:02

Quals are fantastic and if they can be backed up with experience then even better,but if you had 2 nannies you liked,both had zero experience as just starting out, and only one had a qual, who would you choose?"

But equally if you had 2 nannies - both with good qualifications but only one had experience, which would you choose?

I have over 16 years experience and I know that i am better "qualified" than a young person that has formal qualifications but no experience. I don't have any formal nanny qualifications, but that doesn't mean that I'm not good at what i do.

I qualified in 1992 and from what I recall I only did half a term with special needs. ( The rest being 2 terms in an infant school, 2 terms in a nursery, 1 term in a family placement and half a term in a maternity unit. ) I think someone with experience with sn can be far better than someone with qualifications but no real sn experience.

As others have said interview her and see how she reacts with your dc and go with your gut feeling.

Qualified in Summer of 1998, it was one of the last NNEB courses as NNEB had been taken over by CACHE. The course was actually called CACHE Diploma in Nursery Nursing (NNEB).

Only special needs bit recall was watching the Makaton Nursery Rhymes video and attempting some Makaton signs.

I suspect that every college had to cover all the modules, but that some colleges may have put more emphasis on some of those modules than others - as the tutors would have their own specialisms and thus would be far more happy to talk at length about something knew about, than about something they didn't.

I don't recall any special needs placement... my placements (the ones I can recall) were with Childminders and a Reception class.

I did my NNEB 89-91 and spent a year (3terms) in my SN nursery,2 terms in a reception class and one term in family placement - Chapstick - I also wear my badge with pride

Quals are fantastic and if they can be backed up with experience then even better,but if you had 2 nannies you liked,both had zero experience as just starting out, and only one had a qual, who would you choose?

It does take a very special person to work with SN, and I unfort not that special so to the OP if you like and trust this girl then use her regardless of what quals or exp she has - we all had to start somewhere, including the parents of a SN child who prob had zero knowledge

cripes nannynick we did an abundance of SN training.....what year did you qualify?
Im wondering if when the course changed perhaps it eased up a bit?

we were the last year to do the 2 year course after that i believe they worked towards modules.

after reading your post too skramble i realise how fortunate i was i had loads of placements it was a very thorough course we even managed to squeeze in genetics and arts and crafts.

i too had had loads of experience with children but my NNEB taught me an awful lot more- its shame you dont feel you got much out of it because it is a long 2 years.

still,i wear my silver badge with much pride

Similar to nannynick my SNNEB training was limited when it came to special needs. I had 4 main placements 3 of which had 3 and 4 yr olds and the third was a P1 (reception class). We did visit a special needs primary and secondary school and a maternity ward but when I say visit it was a visit, we all spent one day at each of these observing only really and two weeks in a childrens ward.

And sorry but I wouldn't say much of it was very "intensive", but I did feel perfectly equiped and experienced to work with pre school ages or perhaps as a classroom assistant.

meant to add, last nanny has stayed for 3 and a half years!

Hi Runikka, This is a bit subjective, but I just wanted to let you know my experiences. I have two boys both with mild physical SN, one who is mild asd. I have had three nannies, and my first two, who were 'proper' nannies - & great in their ways, but both left, after 18 months, the last one telling me that her 9 yr old daughter felt her attention was too taken up by my son. Nanny was lovely- but I was irritated at her reasons - the real reason i feel her daughter was upset was the little girl got her period the month after she told me this, and also the fact nanny and her dh had marital problems. Felt my son was scapegoat.

Anyway last nanny, a polish girl who I met through a friend, who i knew didn't want to do childcare turned out to be the best for our family.

She doesn't want another nannying job, but just happened to love our kids.

I say go with your instinct.

I work with a number of children who are on the autistic spectrum. I find that it is the child who makes the choice as to who they want to care for them. Non-verbal children will clearly show if they like someone or not.
Last weekend I met a young girl with DX ASD and who does not speak. She ignored me initially, though tolerated sitting in a seat next to me. After a while, she decided that she wanted to touch me... and that then moved on to her wanting to feel my face all over... and then try to the same thing, but using her tongue! I don't like children licking my face, so her attempt to do that resulted in me making it clear that I didn't want to be licked. She sat on me.
This sitting on a person I find is a strong indicator that the child likes (or will tolerate) the person. Anyone else find that?

When I did my NNEB, I don't recall there being any SN training what-so-ever. In fact, I think the only thing I learnt from the NNEB was how write an observation. Everything else I already knew, from having cared for numerous children and by reading numerous parenting & child development books.

Someone who cares for a child with an ASD, needs to be patient, tolerant, consistent and at times very firm.
All children with an ASD vary, I've not yet met two the same.

runikka - arrange to meet them, introduce them to your children, and leave them to it for a while. See how they interact. Give them space - go into the kitchen and make some coffee or busy yourself reading the potential nannies portfolio. Watch from a distance and see how your children (especially the one on the Autistic Spectrum) responds to the new person entering their home.

When I hire a nanny, his/her personality and "click factor" are far more important than any piece of paper. I don't care much about formal qualifications, to be honest.

I do have to say thou, I am currently working towards an NVQ3 so I do recognise the importance of a qualification imananny! In no way am I saying that they are not important+I take my hat off to all the NNEB girls.

I just think that if the OP has a good feeling about the candidate, she shouldn't let the lack of quals get in the way!

IMO at the end of the day a qualification (in any field not just childcare) is not and should not be the be all and end all. In my opinion it is a factor in deciding who you would take on as a child carer but it should not be a defining factor.

For instance a qualified lawyer is a different thing entirely to an excellent lawyer, a qualified GP is different to an excellent GP etc. A piece of paper saying you have passed exams does not equate to someone who will met your and your sons needs . I personally am a highly trained individual (blows trumpet ) but I know that the career path I have trained in will not make me happy and in turn that would mean that I would not good at my job.

I work as a nanny but I have no childcare specific qualifications such as an NNEB; no offence to anyone here that has done an NNEB qualification (it's a hell of an achievement!) but I personally feel that hands on working knowledge, your personality and how you gel with the children you may be looking after is far, far more important than anything you can learn during a course.

I think that suggesting a shadowing period where you and the potential nanny work together is a brilliant solution as I totally understand (and I bet she does too!) that a parent would have reservations with leaving their children with a relative stranger. One word of caution would be to not under-estimate this potential nanny; I have found that my main employers can do this quite a lot to me and it does make you feel a bit deflated at times. But other than that I hope you have a fab working partnership; do not be put off by lack of qualifications is she ticks your other boxes and has been checked out security wise.

Good luck!

PS. Sorry if have offended anyone - totally not my intention!

I LOVE bedgebury

I think that all childcare workers should be qualified, it pisses me off that i trained and worked hard for two years to get my NNEB and then anyone can work with children and call theirselves a nanny

but

equally experience is good as well - ref should be checked regardless of qualified or not

Trust your gut instinct, and if you like and get on well with this lady, then a trial sounds good

I have worked a little with specail needs and did my NNEB work placement in a SN nursery/school - it was very hard, though fullfilling - tbh I am the same as callird I dont think I could be a fulltime nanny to a child with SN as I dont have the patience

Yes would love a meet at Bedgebury.

(You know you get free annual membership if you get DLA, CA or IB?)

all ok-ish here - we are, as you know disputing the SN nursery... dd1 did not attend this week, and probably won't at all. she is back at ehr mainstream pre-school for now, and is being urgently referred to next authority over for entry to the unit. this meeting happens next week. TW county panel have agreed mainstream+unit is the way to go, now just need to wait and see whether they let her start this acadmeic year (think this term is scuppered tbh, despite our best efforts)

will ask my nanny if she wants anymore hours, but she is a student, going into last year, and does 20hours with us already - not sure she has much more time!

if it ever stops raining do you fancy a meet at, say, bedgebury or similar?

but squiffy wouldn't it be fairer to emphasise the importance of checking references regardless.... Being qualified does NOT make you a good nanny! It educates you and prepares but the real test is reality and actually doing the job

runikka

I canot emphasise enough how much you need to check up on references if you take on someone unqualified. We chatted to an unqualified nanny once who had decades of experience and came across brilliantly in email and initial meeting, but when you unravelled the experience you found, for example, that the 3 years 'working in a creche' was actually 3 years working in the creche's canteen, as a dinner lady .

Don't hate yourself callaird. I think it takes a very caring person to be able to admit they cannot meet the needs of a child: it shows conscience and a true desire to want the best for that child. I'm sure any parent would want the person best suited to looking after their child and someone who is struggling is just not going to be able to do that, as they won't be so happy in their work.

I agree silver frog. I have 22 years nannying (no NNEB but B'tec in community care, which includes caring for the elderly, children and SN), have looked after many ages of children, including 2 which have autism.

First one was severly autistic, problems with mobility, no speech etc, second was mild, both were 12 years old, the child with mild autism was such hard work and I spent a lot of time in tears because I couldn't help him, he was very frustrated because he couldn't make himself understood, even though he could sign, he would get so frustrated when I didn't get it straight away, he was so strong and would try to hurt himself or younger siblings (all of who were amazing with him!)

To be honest and I hate myself for saying this and really wished I had stayed but I left after 4 months because I just couldn't cope with him! I told MB after 2 months and stayed until she found someone suitable to replace me.

I thought that I was strong and could cope with anything but I was wrong and I applaud all the people that care for SN children.

I think you should go with gut instinct and think that a 2-3 month trial is a brilliant idea, I am sure that the nanny would be happy with that if she is interested in the position.

Loads and loads of luck.

xx

PS a NNEB qualified nanny who had also done a foundation degree in early years was my DS' keyworker as the SN nursery he attended.

She started one term before he did - never have I met someone with so many qualifications and so little ability with my SN DS. She left after a year to go back to nannying.