To ask how you view nursery staff?

[NancyFrank]

I work in a nursery and love my job. However I sometimes feel it isn't viewed as a 'good' job or there is maybe a stereotype of who works in nurseries and pre-schools ect. The money is pretty much minimum wage (for caring for and educating children in their earliest years, but that is another debate) and the hours are long but I love working with children and struggle to think of a 'better' job that would give me the same satisfaction. I get comments quite regularly on what I will do 'next' aibu to view this as a career, albeit a badly paid one with not much progression..?

About two thirds are absolutely brilliant. Caring, patient, loving. The rest (minority) are pretty useless. Bank staff tend to be more useless than the permanent from the two nurseries I’ve had experience of, although I can think of two bank staff that I thought were brilliant as exceptions. One particularly useless bank staff I’m thinking of doesn’t even look up when you enter the room with your child, sighs dramatically if you ask them to take your child etc ... I don’t know why it is. I know she’s paid peanuts but it’s like she thinks she’s only there to keep up numbers to meet the ratios rather than to actually work.
Turnover has been very high at both nurseries and that’s a shame.

I honestly just welled up thinking about this. (I am a bit emotional!)

I give over my most precious thing in the world to those amazing people every day.
Under paid and under appreciated.

After spending the day with my three year old I literally do not know how nursery staff do their job, day in day out, with 30 of them. I have so much respect.

For context, I used to teach in the prison service, teaching murderers and rapists and drug dealers how to read and write. I still think being a nursery worker is tougher!

£10 an hour for me would be a pay rise whoever said it above! (And I’m a supervisor!)

I think ultimately it is society’s view - and there is a stereotype. And it’s hard because I don’t actually have children but I have worked and volunteered with them for 15 years but it does get the occasional comment along the lines of “I don’t expect you to understand”

Nursery is also still seen to many sadly as something that can wait when it comes to paying the bill, something that should be subsidised even more and that we are there for the parents lives, not the children’s. We are there for both - but primarily the children.
People trust us with their children yet casually say they can’t pay, they want more and more for free despite it being common knowledge that the staff have such shitty pay which subsidised hours make worse.
Someone rightly said above that it’s a vocation that is a calling, you could earn more at a supermarket. True. Sadly that means some parents therefore believe that we wish to revolve our whole lives around the nursery and children by constantly staying late and letting them in early etc.
I also agree there is a definite divide in quality of staff. Please don’t judge us all by age though. Our oldest staff member (50s) has beyond had it but knows nothing else. I put in my all and love it mostly, yet am in the younger childless half. Our recent 18 year new staff member is beyond amazing despite being unqualified.

Thank you for such lovely comments so many of you have put

Another nursery worker checking in.

I work in a baby room in a private nursery.

I love my job and the children are great.
Parents are trusting me with the most precious thing in their life, so why wouldnt i ensure i did a good job taking care of it?

Yes, its badly paid, yes babies cry and poo and puke, no they cant even talk to tell us what they want... BUT. I wouldn't change a thing.

I think some people do go into the job thinking it will be easy (ive met a couple) but usually once they realise that it isnt, they move onto other things.

At my nursery there are only 2 staff.members under 20, and both are at university.
12 of us are in our 20s. 2 of those have children of our own, the rest have been working with children for a few years and the lowest qualified is actually myself at a level 3.
All of the other staff are over 30 and have years and years of experience in this very nursery, plus their own children and grandchildren.

(We are a big nursery with lots of staff!)

We did have a young lad start an apprenticeship with us, but he couldn't cope with the responsibility and left after only 3 weeks.

I do sometimes feel that parents overlook oir importance, but i can get passed that because of how much i enjoy my job.

Earth Angels, well the ones I have encountered. Very grateful for them.

I'm not a nursery worker but both DDs have gone to nursery. I must say that I think they're amazing. They do the job of surrogate mum, teacher, cleaner etc with a smile on their faces and for very very little money. It must be bloody difficult and I couldn't do it.

Mine were in preschool from 2 and the staff there were bloody brilliant. I would never look down on them, at all.
They might not be doctors or solicitors but they were the first people I trusted with the most precious people in the world to me. I chose the staff, rather than the establishment, when deciding where my children would go.

Hugely undervalued career. I’m in awe of the nursery staff at my kids nursery. It is not a job I could do as I lack the skills. It’s shocking how much nursery costs and how little they are paid. Thank you nursery workers everywhere.

The staff at our nursery were like family to us - DS was there from aged 1 until school. I'm so grateful for the excellent care he received. I would never see this kind of job as "less than" - I think providing high quality care for preschoolers is an incredibly important job.

The staff at DS’ nursery are absolute angels. They care for the children like their own (cliche, I know, but true). The majority of the staff have been there for 15+ years, which makes me think they find the job rewarding. DS is currently being assessed by Senco, thanks to his wonderful key worker. I honestly dread the day he has to leave.
So...in a nutshell nursery staff play a huge part in a lot of children’s lives and I view them as incredibly important (and underpaid).

I used to work in a nursery for many years and also did work experience in others.The staff vary wildly IME...it is unfortunately (due to the low pay and lack of high qualifications needed) one of those jobs that can attract the wrong sort of people, who are crap with kids or cannot supervise them properly, and really should not be working with them (one of the reasons i won't put my LG in a nursery).
However I also worked with many fantastic professionals who were decent, intelligent and caring people who worked hard to do the best for the children and I know I was certainly like that myself.I went into the job because I love children, but sadly some people go into childcare as they think it's easy/ don't know what else to do when they don't even really like children or have any rapport with them.

I think they need to raise the bar qualification wise and pay considerably more to filter out the 'bad eggs' as all the good staff tend to leave after awhile to move on to better things, which is a real shame.It has always infuriated me how much people get paid to look after people's money compared to their children...which is more important?!? 🤔

I could not be more grateful to my dd nursery staff. I would be lost without them and how great they are with my kid. I can never think of how to say thank you genuinely enough they they understand how grateful I am!

Shockingly underpaid.

I think the staff at my DD’s Nursery do an amazing job and I’m so grateful. They helped to her into a better sleep routine and help with eating. I suffered with PND quite badly and have no family around. For me, work is a break from parenting and they enable me to be a better parent.

They can't pay them more without pricing out their customers.
Most wages are not enough to afford ft childcare at a nursery.

I think the staff are amazing.

I also have observed that almost all have other career plans because it simply isn’t a career that is sustainable over a lifetime. So yes, I do think of it as a temporary job, but not because it isn’t a skilled job worth doing.

I am a nursery worker also.
One of my new neighbours was asking what I do. Her response "I am a teacher. You are just so lucky you get to play all day with the little ones"
Yes that all I do sit and play in the sand

The women (and 1 man) at the nursery my children go to are amazing!

Every last one of them have been fantastic with my children and they do such a vital job. I don't think I could do it. The amount of patience and dedication they show shaping my children into lovely little people when I can't be there to do it.

Wow I'm so glad I started this thread! Lovely to hear from so many fellow nursery nurses too (smile)

You need better wages and a medal.
I did it but quit to train as a nurse. I couldn’t ever go back to it!
Nursery staff become like extra aunties and uncles when dc are small.

I’m a childminder so not to dissimilar to a nursery, just smaller scale. Pay is better but I do feel vulnerable at times, I have encountered a couple of really disrespectful people and at least in the nursery you have the back of a team, I do miss that. But I adore my job and wouldn’t change it for the world.
And no we don’t just sit on the floor and play all day 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

Honestly? It very much varies.

In the pre-school my kids went to the staff were all mums themselves and looking for a job to work around their own children. They were bright, well-educated, engaged with the children and did an amazing job.

The people in the full time nursery my eldest went to were totally different. Mostly very much younger, poorly educated, only working in childcare because they couldn't get work doing anything better paid. Childcare jobs are often very much sold as an option to people who aren't academic enough for A-levels or Uni. Fairly low-status work.

I know a few people who have worked in nurseries and had to stop when they had children of their own, as they couldn't afford to work and pay for the childcare.

Rather depressing that a person doing a job which enables lots of other people to go back to work, can't do so themselves as the wages are too low.