to think a diverse staff force in a Nursery is an asset, not a drop in quality?

[WhataPlank]

I own a small, rural nursery school.
We, like every other nursery in the UK, really struggle with staffing but have recently secured three wonderful Practitioners to join our small team.
All are very experienced, very caring, speak perfect English and are completely qualified; one from Kenya, one from India and one from Romania.

The most important thing for me is having well trained staff who genuinely love and care for the children and ensure their learning and development is on track. On top of that, I think having such a diverse workforce is a massive asset particularly in an area where the children wouldn't necessarily get much exposure to different cultures. We already did regular diversity events (such as a Holi, Ramadan, St Patricks, Divali etc) and the new staff will all host their own Nursery activities to celebrate their cultures.

But I've heard several complaints (two directly to me as the owner, and many more "gossip/rumours") that our nursery has "cheapened" and "been taken over" and is generally being viewed as lower quality due to the staff not all being British. Some people have expressed concerns that their training would not meet the requirements of the EYFS and that the children's education will be of lower quality. It has been implied that the staff's native qualifications are not comparable to British ones.

AIBU to think this is simply pure racism and that staff diversity should be viewed as a massive asset to our community/children?

(In case it needs mentioning, I've gone out of my way to ensure the staff feel welcome and comfortable with their relocation.)

I work in a childcare setting not in the UK that has approx 90% non native fulltime staff and I see it as an issue because (a) the level of spoken english is poor and (b) their training is focused on working with age 3 + in academic settings ie school. There is a clash of ideologies re learning through play as is the norm here, unrealistic expectations of v small children and a superiority complex amongst a fair few that the methodology here is 'wrong' and they are 'teachers' ie better.
In your circumstances the staff can all communicate well with staff and parents by the sounds of it and having many different cultures and languages represented is a positive imo. Whether their training and/or willingness to embrace your settings ethos is enough obviously I dont know

My initial reaction is that it is likely racism, but as these are new staff please do (as you would with anyone else) keep on top of how they are working and meeting the ethos of your nursery.

It does feel like racism which unfortunately means that children who would benefit most from diversity will not be able to attend.
In response to previous poster, I can't speak for Kenya and India but in Europe, children start school at the age of 7 so Romanian pre-school training is highly unlikely to be focused on academic achievement. My early years in European nursery were very much focused on play, arts and crafts.

They make a point about the qualifications. Nurses come here to work and have to retrain because their qualifications is a much lower level than ours. As a manager you should have already checked that?

British values still need to be in the ethos so how are you ensuring that? There will be some huge cultural differences there - some pros and some cons. Likely a very different way of education. It's a good thing that they have good language and they offer culture to the setting.

I don't see how you can call people racist for bringing up valid points - Some people will be racist and it doesn't matter what you say, that won't change. Why is it that people raise concerns and instead of dealing with those, they get called racist. Not appropriate at all to this scenario.

My only concern would be the quality of their English and the strength of their accents especially around children with speech delay and hearing issues. Otherwise it sounds like the complaints stem from racism. I also think this is a bit of a goady post on a fishing exercise.

If they speak perfect English and are qualified, no issue to me. A lot better than having fewer places.

I suspect like you that some of the comments are racism.

Practitioners from these countries may be more suited to the job and have higher level qualifications. Unfortunately though it is true that their qualifications require to match the registration requirements in UK, which are all different. Even a teacher qualified in England cannot teach in Scotland without going through additional supervised teaching experience of a certain length of time, a school year I think.So it should be similar in early years. We should welcome those from elsewhere but unfortunately it is often the case that they may be more likely to accept poor pay and career prospects. I hope the whole system is overhauled to quickly transfer qualifications and to find those really suited to working with children.

I take it you can reassure the parents that their qualifications/training are to the same standards as U.K.? Because most people wouldn’t know if someone from Kenya or Romania had been trained to the same standards. You’d like to think once they’re assured it is the same standard they’d be fine with it.

Qualifications can be verified by NAIRC UK or there may be a list. In Ireland we have a register of worldwide equivalent awards by our dept of Children.

Out creche has little bios of staff in the way in highlighting their qualifications, most had way higher quals than necessary and held certificates Cefr referenced language etc. They also included litte info about their experience.

Do they have English early years qualifications? How strong are their accents? Diversity is good, but if they don't have the current U.K. qualifications then I can see why parents could be concerned (foreign qualifications may or may not be of the same calibre or higher) plus strong accents can be an issue with younger children learning English as their mother tongue - that said nothing wrong with accents of not too strong, good diction etc

A quick note - they are definitely adequately qualified; we have to go through a very intense process of comparing qualifications and checking each module with the DofE specifications etc

I wouldn't have a problem with it unless the English was poor.

I presume they have no issues with boys wearing dressing up clothes or playing with dolls etc.

And let's face it you only need a level 2 or level 3 qualification to work in a nursery, so surely foreign qualifications must equate otherwise it's not worth calling yourself qualified.

If they speak perfect English and are qualified, no issue to me. A lot better than having fewer places.
I suspect like you that some of the comments are racism.

This. If they speak good English and are suitably qualified, what's wrong with that?
As always though, things get cloaked in " We just have reasonable concerns" which is code for hiding the racism.

“I’m sorry you feel that way. I’m delighted with the qualifications and experience my new staff members bring. If you are unhappy with the care your child is receiving you are very welcome to seek out an alternative setting”

A quick note - they are definitely adequately qualified; we have to go through a very intense process of comparing qualifications and checking each module with the DofE specifications etc
Cross posted with this - no problem at all then, I'd be glad for a bit of diversity, it's good for kids in my opinion.

We only moved to the area ourselves 4 years ago and my opinions may be biased as I have found there to be a very close minded ethos in this area, even though I moved from somewhere that wasn't particularly metropolitan (Derbyshire).
We are held to very stringent regulations so there is no option to be lenient on qualifications or practice; we have to prove extensively to the regulatory body that all areas of the EYFS are being met and that activities are broad and appropriate. Our local area is also very hot on speech and language development etc so we have to meet these points, to the point I'd actually say its excessive but thats a whole other thread.

Of course it's racism. OP has already said they speak perfect English and are qualified to do the job. I would see it as an asset to my DC's understanding of the world.

Well it would put me off and I would be looking elsewhere. And no, it isn’t racist to think that.

I would see it as an asset to my DC's understanding of the world

Same.

It's racism, whether conscious or unconscious.

@ReindeerShelter

Well it would put me off and I would be looking elsewhere. And no, it isn’t racist to think that

OP said they're fully qualified and speak perfect English, so I'm genuinely curious, what exactly puts you off?

I think a sudden exodus of existing staff and an influx of new staff, regardless of their background, is going to cause parents some concern. It will be partly this.

The majority of parents don't really understand UK based childcare qualifications, they're not going to know what childcare training looks like in Kenya, India or Romania. Asking if the training is comparable/has the same ethos is not racist. It's a good question. If there's lots of mutterings on this topic then you've failed to adequately communicate to the parents how thoroughly you've looked into it.

Beyond that, inevitably, some if it will be racism. I don't think you can write off every parent with a question or worry as a racist though. Instead look to your own management, particularly around staff retention and how you communicate the arrival of new staff to your customers.

I agree a culturally diverse workforce can be an incredible asset.

What if they had a strong regional UK accent? We're in SE England and both DC had a primary teacher from Glasgow with a very strong accent, unusual in these parts. There were times the DC struggled to understand her but they got there in the end. Would that be a problem?

Very obviously very racist. Maybe you could do some work on antiracism with the parents and children.

What element would put you off? If it is their race, then why isn't that racism? What would you call it?