To wonder why people become teachers and not nannies?

[LollyScramble]

We all know that teaching is rewarding -- but also super hard work and can be very stressful.

I am currently looking into hiring a nanny and I am at the cost. You have to find £35-45K for a Central London who may not have any qualifications in particular.

Meanwhile, the average pay for a fully qualified Primary School Teacher is only £24,001 per year!

Why don't all the primary school teachers go and become nannies?! Personally I'd love to hire a former reception teacher who has been highly trained in child development and knows how to cope with 20+ kids at once. She'd find my DC a doddle and she'd get a massive payrise.

What am I missing?!

[squizita]

Nanette teachers aren't child care. I know many who only deal with 15 and up.

[minipie]

LollyScramble that's not quite true. Employer pays:

1. Nanny's net salary
   
2. Nanny's tax
   (1 and 2 make up nanny's gross salary)
   AND
   
3. Employer NI contributions
   
   So because of 3), the cost of employing a nanny is greater than the nanny's gross salary.

[harshbuttrue1980]

I'm a teacher. Why am I a teacher and not a nanny?
-I get paid over £50,000 because I had the chance to work my way up to a management role
-I enjoy the responsibility of staff management that comes with being a senior teacher
-Pension
-Holidays
-Job security
-Many nannies are expected to do ironing, cleaning etc, and this isn't part of my career plan and i don't enjoy it - OP, if you employed an ex-teacher, would you expect them to do this?
-Nanny hours are long, so are teacher's hours. However, nannies are often at the beck and call of the parents e.g. babysitting etc. I work long hours but, outside of the classroom, these are self-directed. I can take my work home etc
-authority with the children and parents instead of being someone's personal staff member
-deciding what to teach and how to teach it, rather than having someone dictate how I spend my day. I know from mn that a lot of nanny employers can be VERY controlling

Nannies have a tough and important job, and some employers don't value them enough

[HighwayDragon1]

Because I love teaching teenagers, watching them grow and turn into adults.

I do no want to change shitty nappies

[ryland]

-I enjoy the responsibility of staff management that comes with being a senior teacher

I hated this, thats probably why I think I would prefer nannying to teaching

-deciding what to teach and how to teach it, rather than having someone dictate how I spend my day.

SLT & the government & the ever changing curriculum & ofsted dictated my day and how to teach it - we are all dictated in one way or another

[sandylion]

Yes I'm a primary teacher and no it's not a wind up! I don't like children the way a nanny would. I don't have that particular fondness that would make a great nanny and I'm not great with kids in that particular way. I don't find children cute. Well apart from my own. I do however like my pupils and I do enjoy teaching them. And I'm rather good at it

[ScrabbleScream]

My friend is a nanny here in the NW and gets paid £8.5ph gross. She gets 4 weeks holiday- three of which are chosen by her employer, one by her. She works 7-7 and babysits at least once a week, with a 95% likelihood of it being at a weekend and shes usually told with less than 24hrs notice. She looks after 2 under 3s and on top of that doesnthe childrens laundry/ironing and usually has to run at least one small errand (eg picking up milk and bread, dry cleaning) for her employer everyday.

To the poster with over 10yrs exp getting paid £10ph gross in London- your employer must rub their hands together with glee on a daily basis.

[nanetterose]

sandylion
Right.

[insancerre]

I would have to disagree that teachers have a good knowledge of child development
They might have a good knowledge of school age children but many teachers struggle with understanding child development in the early years age group.
I've seen many teachers struggle when they are taken from ks2 to reception and many don't understand the importance of play for nursery children

[Cindy34]

Interresting discussion.

How are cut backs affecting teachers, are schools replacing full time teachers with part time teachers, replacing older teachers with NQTs because they are cheaper? Some schools may be doing exactly at to balance the books but if you looked at teaching overall, is it a more secure job?

Comparing salaries is hard as a nanny could be on a salary that barely changes over time. There is a glass ceiling, once there very hard to break through... though nice to see someone has got to be a Governess. Teaching may have similar glass ceilings, not every teacher will become a deputy head or head and not every teacher wants to be in management.

[BikeRunSki]

Because the last 7 years have shown me that I go up the walk with boredom and frustration if I have to spend all day, everyday with small children/toddlers/babies.

[GloriaSmellens]

a nanny in greater London. I get 19k a year. I have many qualifications and over 10 years experience. My reputation is such that I rarely interview for jobs in my area and will just be taken on when one role ends.

I work stupid hours and am pretty much always on call. For example yesterday I worked 8am-11.20pm. I have no social life and each of my jobs will last 4 years max. I get last minute changes to my days and hours and generally work 6 days a week.

Unless I physically cannot make it into work I am expected to work, even if it means a tv day for the children while I cuddle a sick bowl.

I am a nanny, housekeeper, PA, and about 100 other roles within the house.

It isn't as easy as people assume.

Seriously?!

My best friend is a nanny (home counties) and recognise very little from your post.
Her pay is pretty much on a par with my (teacher) pay.
She works long days but definitely not until 11pm!
She works 5 days a week on average unless she is doing extra babysitting in which case she gets paid over time.
Holidays can be difficult as she.only gets 4 weeks and they often have to fit round the requirements of the.parents.
She always tries to be in work if she can (like most people) as she knows parents are relying on her, but if she was 'cuddling a sick bowl' she would not go in.
Apart from general tidying up and cleaning after cooking she does not do any cleaning. She sees herself as child care and helping to raise kids, not a housekeeper and she makes that explicit in interviews.
Like you, she is.highly.qualified and.experienced and is often 'head hunted'.

Maybe you need to get out of central London, the parents there sound like piss taking.nightmares!

[Kirkenes]

It's the holidays - teachers holidays are amazing. Also the 'teaching' bit of the day is fairly short.

Imagine your childcare costs if you were a nanny - much better if you are a teacher.

[GloriaSmellens]

Yes, I'm not sure being a nanny is all that compatible with having your own kids tbh.

Despite barely seeing them in the week (or the weekends sometimes) if you are full time, the holidays do mean that teaching is a lot more.compatible with kids!

[WannaBeAMummy16]

I am a nanny. I get minimum wage! On top of looking after the kids, I do all the households laundry and some cleaning. (To be fair, they didn't ask me to do the laundry I just did it one day and they were so pleased I sort of carried on with it!)

[Lightbulbon]

Aren't most nannies live in?

That completely changes the pay argument.

If they have no rent/bills to pay nannies are much better off than teachers!

[springscoming]

sandy isn't that unusual tbh. I've been into lots of different classrooms and a fair proportion of the teachers don't seem to like children. The ones who have a passion for teaching and are good at it are usually fine but a depressing number don't seem to like either children or teaching and that's a recipe for sadness all round.

[MadHattersWineParty]

I don't live in! Rent and travel comes in at £725 a month- that's about half my pay packet on a month where I've worked some overtime. I either need to be paid the net going rate for my current job or look elsewhere, which is a shame. Have worked live in nanny jobs abroad and was certainly very comfortably off but I did not like being 'on duty' all of the time- the kids coming to me when I was relaxing in my room in the evenings, the parents expecting weekend babysitting etc.

[EmmaWoodlouse]

My guess is that people become teachers because they are interested in teaching, and nannies because they are interested in caring for small children.

FWIW, the only nanny I've ever known personally did not live in.

[Mislou]

I've become friends with a nanny here in NZ through being a SAHP. She used to teach. To me it seems such a great low stress job, she has one 3 year old boy and is always at the beach, picnics at the pool, doing kids classes etc. She gets to do all the fun stuff and lots of playdates whilst I rush off to do my house stuff. Seems like a lovely job if your family are good.

[Kirkenes]

Job security

[SuburbanRhonda]

It's the holidays - teachers holidays are amazing. Also the 'teaching' bit of the day is fairly short.

Not so amazing when you factor in that they are unpaid, unlike holidays in most other jobs.

Teaching is indeed only part of a teacher's working day. As in most jobs, where employees rarely do the same task all day every day.

[PurpleDaisies]

It's the holidays - teachers holidays are amazing. Also the 'teaching' bit of the day is fairly short.

The teaching bit is by far the best bit. The planning, marking, box ticking, chasing parents, chasing students, data entry is what makes it exhausting. I don't know any teacher who doesn't work over the holidays.

[JoffreyBaratheon]

I wondered this years ago when I got my first primary teaching job and started looking for a childminder so I could do that job. We found a good one, but she wanted basically what was my entire wage packet, every week, and she already had two other kids there. So she was getting more than three times I was, after four years at university, etc. It was incredibly disheartening.

In the end my husband gave up his job to look after our eldest, which came to the same thing.

[GloriaSmellens]

The teaching bit is by far the best bit. The planning, marking, box ticking, chasing parents, chasing students, data entry is what makes it exhausting.

Yes this is true! I dread the clock coming round to 3:15 and some days it feels like my day is just.beginning at the time!