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.)