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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think that nursery teachers should be given more than minwage?

159 replies

rachie2011 · 07/05/2011 21:42

I actually am at home at the moment with my baby. But i will be reaturning to work soon its soooo sad that i have had to go for a cleaning job instead of returing to my job in a nursery which i have done for 6 years and loved every min of it. Fully trainned and adore every second of nursery work but the sad fact is my wage is the lowest it could be and and being alone means i cannot afford to do it. I have had to take a cleaning job which pays double so that i can provide for my baby but i think it is sooo unfair :(

OP posts:
purepurple · 08/05/2011 08:52

YANBU
I am a nursery nurse and have just finished a level 5 foundation degree and am about to start a BA Hons in early childhood.
I earn just over minimum wage but haven't had a pay rise for over 3 years. When the minimum wage goes up in October I will get an increase of about £1 a month.
I left the nursery where I had been a Room Leader, SENCO and Health and safety officer on much higher than the minimum wage to move closer to DD's school as it was too much travelling.
I am now facing the prospect of being back on minimum wage which, quite frankly, is actually a bit of a kick in the stomach. I feel that I have hit the bottom and feel very de-motivated and am seriously considering leaving early years this time next year when I will have finished my course.
We have just taken on a new cleaner. She gets paid £9 an hour.

KatyMac · 08/05/2011 08:53

lynehamrose - it's likely that the ones without under 5's would take home more than you & the ones with under 5's would be in the same position or worse off

12,000 pa is about 6.15 an hour

camdancer · 08/05/2011 08:56

I agree but while the single funding formula pays such a low rate, that is all preschools can afford. I'm on the committee for a preschool. We'd love to pay more. We have a very well qualified, experienced staff who are fabulous and it is a disgrace what we pay them. But what can we do? Ratios are required by law, our funding is fixed, our buildings costs are going up. There isn't much wiggle room at all.

But we do pay over minimum wage for level 3+ with experience. Maybe look around and see what you can find. It might not be much more but enough to not have to do cleaning.

JemimaMop · 08/05/2011 08:57

Being qualified at Level 5 won't necessarily mean that you are paid more if the job that you are doing could be done by someone with a Level 2.

If you have a degree you don't earn any more working on a supermarket checkout than someone who left school with 2 GCSEs.

With a level 5 qualification you could go for a nursery manager/leader job, which would pay more than minimum wage.

purepurple · 08/05/2011 08:57

lynehamrose, nursery nurses have bills to pay too you know. My mortgage is double what my take home pay is. Do you want to subsidise the rest for me?

Katymac, can I come and work in your nursery? Grin Only if the pay is decent though [grin Grin

KatyMac · 08/05/2011 09:01

pp - I'd have you in a shot; if I could only make my numbers add up

Would you be manager for £12,000 pa (30 hrs only) - is 75% occupancy realistic? & is it worth opening a company for about £4k pa profit?

lynehamrose · 08/05/2011 09:03

I am just asking because I think the op will find that now she is on the other side of the fence, she will understand a little more how it is from the those paying the nursery. I think unless she is lucky enough to have found hugely subsidised care for her child, she'll still feel she isn't bringing home much. With nurseries you also have to pay either all day or at Least half days, and often its all year round, so you cant really compare with paying a cleaner. I pay my cleaner £10 per hour which is the going rate round here, but I pay just the 3 hours a week I need. If my boys had gone to nursery, I would have paid £80 per day, every day, all year round, 8am to 6pm, regardless of whether I had an early finish and could get them at 5.
I am not disagreeing that nursery workers are low paid- just pointing out that many parents are already touch and go on what they can afford. If the op has managed to find some childcare where she isn't paying the going rate, then shes not really able to compare with how it is for many parents

noodle69 · 08/05/2011 09:04

Depends Jemima Mop our nursery is primarily Social Services referrals and is under tha Surestart umbrella but is now private. Manager is paid £6.55 an hour. That involves going to Social Services Core Group meetings, and all other managerial tasks.

Groovee · 08/05/2011 09:05

I'm a nursery nurse in Scotland and I'm not on Minimum wage. I'm on double in the state sector than what I was in the private sector. My friend in London works as a special needs NN in a school. When I worked in Private we were on pretty good wages but then it depends on if your owner is in it for the money our like ours was, for the love of it. She never took any money from the nursery and always ploughed it back into the nursery.

Megatron · 08/05/2011 09:06

YANBU. I'm a nursery nurse. NVQ2/NVQ3/Foundation degree and I also have a degree in English Lit (though that is irrelevant in my job obv). I work in a private nursery who charges £48 per day and I get paid £5.93 an hour. As I live and work in a rural area my choices are very limited so it's too bad really.

compo · 08/05/2011 09:08

Many nursery staff have a degree. I have an Early Childhood Studies degree 2:1 grade but pay is £6 an hour. A lot of staff in nurseries have Foundation degrees or BA (Hons) nowadays. EYPS is the Early Years Practitioner Status which is a postgrad qualification and I know many nursery nurses with it that are paid £6 an hour.

presumably with a degree like that you'd go into child psychology or something
most nursery workers go straight from school to college instead of a levels and uni and do nvqs, diplomas in childcare

compo · 08/05/2011 09:10

What I mean is if you want to work in a nursery your first thought isn't to go to uni to get a degree first
you investigate wages before choosing a career path surely

annawintour · 08/05/2011 09:10

I think nursery staff do not get much pay. Unfortunately women still get segregated in some low earning areas, and their is a pay gap too.

OP - why don't you try get work as a nanny while keeping your baby with you? I know lots of working mums who would consider this.

You'd get paid and they would have a nursery trained nanny looking after their little one.

purepurple · 08/05/2011 09:10

I think 75% is realistic. Our owner sets us targets around that figure which we are hitting at the moment.
Is the profit after you have taken your wages? I expect at the moment, any profit is worthwhile.

Why would the manager be part-time? Is it to cut costs? Our manager works about 45 hrs a week but does lots at the weekend and evenings too. There are always forms that need filling in and doing the fees takes up a lot of her time, as does chasing parents who are in arrears.
I personally, wouldn't do it for £12k as I would imagine that I would have to take work home to get it done.

RitaMorgan · 08/05/2011 09:13

There's been a drive to improve the education level of Early Years staff though compo, but it hasn't been matched by increased wages.

Is it that hard to believe that some people, even intelligent, well-educated people, want to work in childcare?

breatheslowly · 08/05/2011 09:13

Which would you rather do, nursery work or cleaning? That is the reason for the pay difference.

noodle69 · 08/05/2011 09:13

compo - The Labour government paid for a lot of people to take the qualifications as every setting was going to need a staff member with the postgraduate qualification. 100s of people have done the EYPS and the degree but now they have changed their minds. There are many degree qualified members of staff in nurseries nowadays, however it doesnt effect pay its just something you do if you want to help the children. I work with very disadvantaged children and predominantly SS referrals.

KatyMac · 08/05/2011 09:14

PP, come & chat if you have time (it's a homework day today)

compo · 08/05/2011 09:20

Ritamorgan - no of course not
my knowledge is woefully out of date
when I was at school if you didn't want to go to university you left school , attended college and did a vocational course in secretarial skills, hairdressing or childcare

noodle69 · 08/05/2011 09:21

Also I believe that the children benefit from educated staff who have a background in child development, especially those children from the most disadvantaged homes. There is a wealth of research that shows that children from the most vulnerable families are a long way behind more affluent families. I see it as my role to try and bridge that gap and so do 100s of other nursery workers around the country.

I am not asking to become wealthy from this role but as the Labour Government encouraged plenty of people to obtain these qualifications then I think now taking away that support is unfair.

KatyMac · 08/05/2011 09:23

Me too Compo, because, of course, women only what to be a secretary, a hairdresser, a NN or a cook (you forgot that one).

I had an awful time explaining to my mum when I moved into this field that I might need a degree.....to change a baby's nappy

noodle69 · 08/05/2011 09:25

compo - Nursery will be nothing like it was when you left school. I deal with children with additional needs, English as a second language and complex speech and language difficulties. We frequently liaise with Speech and Language therapists, Behavioural Psychologists, NHS staff, Health Visitors and Social Services. We have to complete observations that could result in a child being removed from the family home, and I have been involved in this process numerous times in the past.

compo · 08/05/2011 09:29

All those children must have slipped under the radar then in years gone by Sad

lol Katymac, ah yes cookery and of course beauty therapy

JemimaMop · 08/05/2011 09:34

£6.55 for a manager is poor, but then I'm probably not suprised. In schools 1:1 staff working with children with very complex needs are only paid just over £6 an hour.

Here nursery school leaders get about £8-£9 an hour. But after school club leaders are often paid less than £7 an hour.

As others have said, it is all about covering costs. If you paid a good wage you would have to pass that cost onto the parents, and they can't afford to pay more an hour for nursery/after school care etc. The government won't fund it at the moment as there aren't enough jobs to go round so it works well if one parent per family decides to stay at home with the kids...

KatyMac · 08/05/2011 09:34

Compo before our time the children with SN were 'put away' 'kept at home' 'home schooled' (not like HS now) or just the stupid one(s) in the class, I'm guessing around the 70's they were in 'special schools' & I can remember children at school being taken out of class for English lessons; they probably didn't attend nursery. Without even thinking about neglected children

Sadly