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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

AIBU to think alot of people dont see being a nursery nurse as a career?!

86 replies

stoppinchingthedummy · 30/01/2011 12:33

Hi all

I only ask as i am a nursery nurse- i love my job , i started when i was 17 unqualified and worked hard to become qualified,gained experience ,had my own children and still love the job!! However lots of people ask me if id like a career when my dc are older... I would love to become a midwife so yes i would BUT isnt being a nursery worker a career?? I would just like some views please :)

OP posts:

SnapFrakkleAndPop · 30/01/2011 15:53

But that is progression, isn't it? Mentoring others I mean. Presumably you're not working exactly the same job at the same level as when you started. If you wanted you could access further training and be promoted which is a career. But being a nursery nurse is a job, being a lawyer is a job, being a staff nurse is a job, being a teacher is a job. A career is about the possibility of progression, whether you take that or not.

JaneS · 30/01/2011 16:05

Of course it is a career, how could it not be?

BabyDubsEverywhere · 30/01/2011 16:11

Sorry was going from my friends experience, so 3 girls from my sisters year went straight into nursery from school, shes now 24, so 8yrs ago, 1 of whom left to work at macdonalds as the wage was better! Other experience is current friend who now manages toddler room started at 16 from school, shes now 22.

All of them have said that the training was on the job under someone else.

I wasnt being arsey sorry, just going from above. Still wouldnt see nursery nursing as a career though, more of a stepping stone.

LadyTremaine · 30/01/2011 16:22

Career is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as an individual's "course or progress through life (or a distinct portion of life)". It is usually considered to pertain to remunerative work.

nannynick · 30/01/2011 16:24

Does it really matter if it is or isn't a career?

I used to work in Information Technology (I did computer technical support) and have also worked in Sales (sales assistant, sales manager, national sales manager - hey, it was a small company ). What is to say those are any more of a career than working in childcare?

These days I work in childcare. Find it much less stressful. Live about a 20 min drive from Guildford (as TiggyD mentioned that place), can afford my mortgage, bills and have extra remaining to put into savings.

A friend of mine has just opened a nursery... she was a childminder. Both of those roles are in childcare and both are running your own business. So has she gone up in the childcare career? Not sure... she's really just got bigger (gone from a 12 place childcare setting, to a 32 place childcare setting) oh and also changed from being a sole trader to a Ltd Company.

I see my job as a means to pay the bills. A means to have the lifestyle to which I am accustomed. Do I have a career... not sure I do... not sure it really matters. Does it matter?

LadyTremaine · 30/01/2011 16:26

I doubt you could pay mortgage,bills and savings on nursery nurse salary... Not relevent to the OP but just in response to nannynick, I gather youre probably a nanny which is why you earn more.

Peachy · 30/01/2011 16:28

My Sister is an NNEb and in her mid thirties; she drives a saab and together with her DH has just bought a lovely 6 bedrromed house.

She's doing her degree and completes shortly- is a Manager of a large nursery and deputy head of the whole group.

She slogs for it - rarely tkaes a day off and takes calls even if she does have AL- and refers to Mum as her ds's real parent as she has seen so little of him (she doesn;t say it sadly, it was a choice she openly made).

For her though it has been a very successful career path.

JaneS · 30/01/2011 16:36

I think the focus on money is a bit odd. I earn less than a nursery nurse and my 'career' (if you'd count it as such) would eventually be academia. I think a nursery nurse must be a career because you are doing a job that has some progression, yes?

I think people can be very snobby about any kind of childcare/teaching.

nannynick · 30/01/2011 16:37

Yes LadyTremaine, I'm a nanny - thus do earn more than a typical nursery nurse. However it's still a childcare job, so not paid anywhere near as much as when I was a Sales Manager.

In my area a nursery nurse could get £16k, where as a nanny working similar hours (40 per week) could get £20k. As a Sales Manager I was on £27k and that was over 6 years ago.

Nannying probably isn't a career either. There are even less prospects as a nanny as you can't go up when you are the only employee.

BabyDubsEverywhere · 30/01/2011 16:37

God Peachy thats sad for her son though surely?

ellenbrody · 30/01/2011 16:40

I am a Nursery Nurse and proud of it. Just because it is not well paid does not mean it is not a career. I have managed to pay my own way through life, buy a house, drive my own car, raise 2 DC's on my wage, so it's not too shabby! With everything in life, it is what you make it. Some people are really happy staying in the same position for their working life (career)as it gives them a sense of satisfction and enjoyment, others wish to work towards more senior positions in order to earn more money. There is nothing wrong with either. In this day and age, you cannot get a job as a Nursery Nurse without training and qualifications and those that train on the job (usually NVQ's) are NOT Nursery Nurses until they complete their qualifications. The courses are demanding and the work is hard, so not for those who see working with children as an 'easy option', because it is not!

LadyTremaine · 30/01/2011 16:42

Wow ellen, you must work some long hours, isn'y nursery nursing on minimum wage?

LadyTremaine · 30/01/2011 16:43

If you work in a nursery with a level 2, and are studying, are you considered a nursery nurse? out of interest cause we have a few like that at nephews nursery, they call themselves NNs.

juneybean · 30/01/2011 16:45

Most of the time considered Nursery Assistants I thought??

ellenbrody · 30/01/2011 16:46

LadyTremaine, I do not work for the minimum wage and I do not know many nurseries that pay that. You get what you pay for in my experience. Private pays less than education system aswell.

frgr · 30/01/2011 16:47

It just depends on what definition of career vs. job you are talking about. Or whose.

I've always considered it as a job.

Doesn't mean to say it's not worthy of respect, it's an invaluable role :) Confusing the two isn't helpful...

frgr · 30/01/2011 16:48

(the two being: a career has value/respect vs. a job which doesn't. it's not as simple as that :))

LadyTremaine · 30/01/2011 16:53

Oh, sorry. Its about 5.90 and hour round here.

nannynick · 30/01/2011 16:54

What is the goal of a career? Is it to become a Manager or an Owner? If so, then work in a nursery does enable someone to become a Manager.

juneybean · 30/01/2011 17:14

I know alot of nurseries that pay minimum wage. I'm lucky to get an extra 7p an hour go me!

Roll on when I start my nanny job and I'll be on 50% more

Peachy · 30/01/2011 17:35

BabyDubs not sure- not my choice but her son is a very happy confident little thing who gets time with them at weekends and my parents adore him and spoil him too.

Seems to me actually he having alovely, if a little unusual, childhood.

noodle69 · 30/01/2011 17:52

I agree with Ellen I am 26 have my own mortgage down south, car, bills etc. It can be done on nursery nurse wage. I only get £6 but I still bought a place on that wage.

noodle69 · 30/01/2011 17:53

Also I like being with the children and a child focused role. You do not get that as a manager and that is what I enjoy. A lot of NNs think like that and its why some dont want to become managers. I see it as more beneficial to use my knowledge to pass directly on to the children.

LadyTremaine · 30/01/2011 18:05

Wow! I cant buy a house on double that - well done you. You must have the art of saving down, unlike myself

noodle69 · 30/01/2011 18:07

We got our latest place on my wage of £6 an hour and my husbands of £6.50. Self cert

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