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'm not sending my child there cos they done got forrigners speaking all funny'

It's either racism or xenophobia - take your pick, but you have only those options 🤷🏼‍♀️

My son's nursery was staffed almost exclusively by Spanish and South American staff. I'm in ROI and that's quite standard here. It was wonderful for him and everyone was very enthusiastic about their input. but the nursery owner gave us lots of detail on their qualifications and experience before they started.

There may be any number of reasons why parents have concerns - many of which have been mentioned here. Why not have the conversation with them and take it from there?

The more diverse the better. Plus, the only 2 annoying staff at our DCs nursery were chip on shoulder locals who clearly didn’t like university staff parents. NB I’m local as well as uni staff, so I’m not reinforcing or endorsing town and gown

Would love to hear your "none racist " reasons 😁

Of all the things I've seen on MN, this may well be one of the most shockingly narrow-minded. Jfc. Are you perhaps one of those people who has lived within the same five square miles since they were born?

My DD's nursery has a very diverse workforce. The three ladies in her room are white British, Afro-Carribean, and British Asian. I love that my DD is exposed to a range of cultures. And yes, they celebrate a really good mix of cultural and religious festivals. OP, I think the comments are racist. Perhaps not out and out racist, possibly some unconscious bias.

what would put you off?
Their English is fine and they are as qualified as the other staff.

What is it about them that puts you off?

I'm sorry, I clicked the wrong thing and voted yabu but meant to vote yanbu but now can't change it

It's a ridiculous attitude. Your nursery sounds lovely and if we lived near you (unlikely as we're city centre) we'd definitely be looking at you as a place to send our children.

I worked in a nursery with Indian, Iranian and Swedish staff and didn't notice anything like this - the kids were more diverse than the adults though.

I wonder if the problem is that Eastern European and Indian/African staff could be seen as being cheaper to employ than UK or 'Western' staff and so people think you are just using them as cheap labour.

How many staff do you have in total?

There is often a perception that some foreigners get automatically paid less so the "chaep" might be them thinking you are saving money by hiring for less

I am so disappointed in the rampant racism and ignorance on this island. Absolutely no understanding of history, politics, geography. Thanks God I live in a city with educated, civilised and mature people.

@roarrfeckingroar

If it's not a diverse area, why do you feel the need to do so many celebrations of other faiths?
If it's not a diverse area, surely that's even MORE reason to learn about other cultures, traditions, celebrations etc as they won't get to learn about it in their every day lives and dealing with others as all the people they mix with will presumably be the same as them?!

Because part of learning about yourself and your culture is learning about other cultures. Because it teaches tolerance and respect. Because it is interesting and fun. Because these children may well want to leave their rural village at some point so it would be beneficial for them to know something about other cultures they may come across.

Cross posted

My DS's nursery has a v diverse workforce. They produce art/read books etc for Diwali and Eid as well as Christmas and Easter. I think it's great. Some of the most caring and knowledgeable of the staff were those born abroad. That's really all I care about. In terms of language, I don't care if they have accents - I'm glad DS learns to decipher various accents. Children are adaptable. If they have delayed speech or poor language skills that's a separate issue.

I work in a secondary school with some departments (e.g. maths) with lots of staff born outside the UK. Sometimes we have parents ring up and ask to have their kids moved to the classes of the 3 staff with native British sounding names. I judge those people.

I sometimes wonder if people consider non-white or migrant workers “unskilled” and “cheap” in general, and so their attitude is that you’re somehow skimping on employees by hiring “cheap” people. (I have no doubt that they’re qualified and properly paid) and not investing in white teachers for their previous darlings.

I wonder if they have the same attitude in hospitals too 🙄

Fair enough but I don't think it's a rare view about middle England that focusing on British values and traditions should be the focus. It's not my view but then I'm in central London.

You made assumptions on the adequacy of the staff based on their cultural and racial background. Despite learning that their standard of English is good and their qualifications are appropriate for the role, you decided that they are not fit to work with your children based on the colour of their skin and country of origin.
Definition of racism from Marriam Webster: "a belief that race is a fundamental determinant of human traits and capacities"

Please compare the two paragraphs and tell me again why your statement is not racist.

Oh and it’s very normal for children to learn about other cultures and celebrations, what a strange attitude from some posters. My kids learned about Diwali in nursery for instance.

Surely it's no better or worse?

It's not just non-white. Acentral and Easterm Europe is that too

@Thementalloadisreal

Oh and it’s very normal for children to learn about other cultures and celebrations, what a strange attitude from some posters. My kids learned about Diwali in nursery for instance

I never learned about anything like Diwali in nursery, (very white, very not diverse country village) in the 80s.
Would do some areas good to learn about different cultures and celebrations, they'd benefit from it.
I struggle to see how it's a bad thing to learn about other cultures

Care to elaborate then?

And for those complaining about accents, would you also mind if staff had a geordie accent?

Fair enough but I don't think it's a rare view about middle England that focusing on British values and traditions should be the focus.
Why can't we do both?
Although in this context, not sure what you mean by British values?
When it comes to traditions, they'll surely still celebrate and learn about stuff like Christmas and Bonfire Night.
Why not be more rounded and learn about Diwali and Eid/Ramadan as well for example?

I was a nursery nurse for less than a year, I left because a massive majority of the staff were racist. (Not to me, just around me*), no races were safe either. Those dickheads hated everyone!
Didn't matter what your quals were, how good your English was, if you hadn't been born in the local hospital to white british parents you were treated disgustingly, but slyly.
Racists are absolutely vile and the ones that hide it behind flowery words are the worst.
Honestly, just say, "I am too dull and closed minded to want my life enriched by someone who has a different background to me". I think I'd respect it more, let everyone know you're a plank so we can (the non racists) avoid you.

*even though I worked about half an hour drive away from Liverpool, the boring "watch out she'll Rob your stuff" because I'm originally from Liverpool was a daily occurrence. Not racist but not exactly a welcoming atmosphere. Bellends.

And they hated anything other than Christian holidays being celebrated for some boring twat reasons.

What happened with the staff at the nursery when you took over? You've recruited internationally by the sounds of it... Are you offering apprenticeships with ongoing roles, etc, to those in the local community?

You've moved somewhere, and started a business that requires locals to accept you and trust you with their children, and yet you appear to look down on the rural way of life... I'm pretty sure there's another side to this.

I can imagine a story of experienced local staff being pushed out by someone who sneers at local ways, to be replaced by internationally recruited people with paper qualifications, but not the experience of those pushed out, at a cheaper rate than those locally would accept. Many parents, especially those from close knit rural communities, want Mrs Twigg, who looked after me when I was at nursery, looking after their baby. They may not care whether Mrs Twigg has an NVQ, because Ms Twigg was their best mate, and Mr Twigg is now their brother in law, and they used to babysit baby Twiggs. If you're an outsider, and you've jumped to racism being your first thought... I think maybe some self reflection could be in order. You may just not understand.

If you want a viable nursery, you need the community on board, especially in rural areas. Labelling them immediately as racists, rather than thinking "most people aren't racist, I wonder what their concerns are?" will not make you a successful business.