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.)

Yes, it's 100% racist. You're a racist, plain and simple.

I think putting some information about qualifications on the website is a great idea, but I might be inclined to make it less personal. So describe the qualifications required in this country, then have a section on overseas qualifications explaining that these are cross-checked so that you know that everyone has the training described in the previous section as a minimum. Of course those who have trained elsewhere may have additional skills which are not mandatory here, which is a bonus - you could perhaps mention examples.
Then add a section about ongoing staff development - which will reassure people further.

I think if you put too much detail about individual staff members that may invite comparison which is not helpful.

What an unbelievably racist thread (not OP but the replies)

Foreigners can't possibly understand "British values"
Foreigners probably have weird thick accents.
Foreigners are a safeguarding risk.
Foreigners simply aren't qualified.
Foreigners don't know what SEND is, are abusive to neurodiverse kids, and still think left handed people are possessed by the devil. (Okay a slight exaggeration but only slightly!)
Black people are only hired because of "diversity" not because of their skills and abilities.
I'd never accept a foreigner or a non-white person looking after my kids but I'm not racist!!!
Foreigners, even extremely well qualified ones, simply don't have the academic skills (oh ay because nurseries always teach particle physics, right)
Multiple comments making up lies completely out of thin air to attack the OP for daring to hire a black person
Being anti-racist is cultural supremacy because racism is just part of rural English belief systems and to challenge that is anti-English.

And of course the hysterical shrieking of WOKE WOKE WOKE whenever anyone suggests that non-white people are entitled to live in the UK.

If it's not a diverse area, why do you feel the need to do so many celebrations of other faiths?

Everyone should know about other faiths because we all live on the same planet. What the actual fuck is wrong with you?

Next time someone claims Mumsnet doesn't have a problem with racism I'll point them to this thread. Mumsnet is the most racist webforum I've ever seen in my life, it's insane how deeply ingrained racism is here.

A lot of the comments are not just racist, but flat out white supremacist.

I work in a nursery and we have many foreign new recruits, due to local staff shortages. We are now recruiting from a European country where new trainees are coming to learn English, so this means poor English with strong accents, high turnover and inexperience. The policy is generally to have no more than 1 of these employees per room. Parents can't communicate, children speech development is affected and staff get frustrated but this is entirely language related, I don't think its racist and it seems different from what OP describes.

Generally I would see diverse staff as a very positive thing. Where I work we have a lot of children who are new immigrants, many speak no English at all, neither do parents. I work with age 3 upwards and this makes our job extremely difficult. We found it to be a huge advantage and comfort for a child to see someone who looks like them or can speak their language. One time an upset child was calmed by hearing a lullaby in a different language but similar sound system to theirs when the English words gave no comfort. Its also good for the children to learn a bit about the world and open their minds. I would be quite surprised if a parent complained, i dont think anyone ever has. Maybe the point is if the ratio of diverse staff matches the children people see it as a good thing but all British children with diverse staff is the issue? Which sounds like xenophobia to be honest.

@AppleChristsBirthdayMacchiato I agree, but think it's important it stands as it does open eyes and expose to other people's way of lives and thinking
For all those close minded no hopes of "it's woke and I don't want my kids exposed to it" there's others genuinely reading and benefitting from it.
I'm one grew up in that mindset and it's beneficial being exposed to other people outside of your bubble ( even though it's obviously not anyone's place to educate anyone else)
That has to come from you yourself not others

"I'm not racist, I just don't want ethnic minorities looking after my children".

Indeed. Honestly, this thread has shocked me. I don't think some posters can hide their deeply ingrained racism.

@WhataPlank I would see your hiring as deeply aligned to the values I have and would love the opportunity for dc to be cared for by people who reflect the global world we live in. Thank you for valuing them & their contributions.

Sadly this thread will not have shocked anyone who isn’t white british from birth.

Well said!

Why?

"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”

*This

Honestly OP, you sound amazing and if you've done what is required to employ suitable people, then ignore the comments. It's almost impossible to find appropriate staff in childcare. So many of my friends have closed nurseries because of the shortage of staff. Please don't pander to the racists by putting their qualifications on your website. Treat all your employees equally. You'd be better off without racist individuals in your nursery. If they left it would be no loss and others would clamour to join. Keep the quality of your service the best you can!

Please don't pander to the racists by putting their qualifications on your website. Treat all your employees equally

Yeah, that bit didn't sit well with me either.
Don't pander.
Sod 'em.

for a start women have the same rights as men and don't have to cover themselves up when going outside or have to get the permission of men before driving a car for example. Freedom to criticise religions, enforced marriages, fgm I could go on. Girls don't have to cover themselves when going into school . Lots of things of this nature fill me with horror. Not sure as country we've ever have to put up with this.

nor would it shock anyone who’s been on Mumsnet for more than 5 minutes

I would worry about a setting that could not attract any local staff whatsoever.

Reasons:

• usually workplaces that struggle to attract staff, there's a reason. Workload too high, pay too low for the local market, hours or conditions not flexible enough eg not offering competitive annual leave, maternity pay etc. Bringing in foreign workers who'll accept conditions local workers won't, is a race to the bottom and undercuts employers offering something better.
• childcare is very very cultural. People want their children looked after by people who share their own habits, values, accents, expectations, common cultural ways of doing things.
• accents really do matter. I use to help run a small local provision and we once trialled a staff member who spoke excellent english but with a noticeable accent. It didn't go well, the children struggled, she also had a couple of sounds which she struggled to make which wasn't ideal with early phonic awareness etc - b & v were indistinguishable, the letter R she said with quite a different sound to a british vocalisation.
• a lot of what staff do in a nursery isn't really the trained part. Its just adults caring for children and things that are normal in some cultures would be unwelcome in the UK. You can argue you've monitored & this isnt the case until you are blue in the face, but you aren't hovering over your staff every minute of the day and it will bother people..

Oh and its nothing to do with race.

Id be perfectly happy with muslim or black or whatever staff who've been in the uk a long time eg grown up here or been educated here. I like settings to celebrate a range of faiths etc.

I'd struggle with a nursery staffed entirely by people who've been recruited directly from abroad (you mention sorting visas) and have only just moved to the Uk. And that would included white Europeans.

I'd far rather a local black or south asian heritage person, than someone you've had to go recruit from italy who's only just come to the UK.

There is quite plenty options between Taliban rulr and Britain 😶

These are quite universal values for many countries

Someone upthread posted the government advice on what British Values in Education means.

Here is a brief outline for those who missed it:

What are the 5 main British values?
They are:

• democracy.
• the rule of law.
• individual liberty.
• mutual respect.
• tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs.

Does anyone object to that?

Nope, no objection to that. Tolerant is good.

Shoehorning unnecessarily wokeism into nurseries is not, though.

Shoehorning unnecessarily wokeism

I still don't know what you mean by that.

Shoehorning unnecessarily wokeism

Absolute nonsense tbh.

It's the same in the care home where my grandmother resides. And you know what, the staff are lovely. And I'm so grateful for all that they do.

@ReindeerShelter
Shoehorning unnecessarily wokeism into nurseries is not, though
You keep throwing the word woke around but not actually saying what you mean by that.
Employing people who are Kenyan?
Indian?
Romanian?
All three of them?
And which bit is it that you "won't have round your children?"
As you still haven't spit that bit out and just said.

A few years ago I was back in my home town of Luton and was driving past a primary school at coming out time. There were several mums on the pavement with buggys picking up their children and ALL of them were covered from head to toe. It just didn't looked right - say what you will, and I'm not racist