Childcare is not a dumping ground for the unemployable

[UnsolvedMysteriesRobertStack]

AIBU to feel frustrated with the new staff in childcare?

I don’t want to sound harsh, but I’m seeing more and more new staff who are simply not suited for childcare, and I’m wondering if they're being sent here because the job centre is forcing them into work. I'm talking about staff with complex ASD needs, and some who haven’t worked since their early 20s but are now being placed into jobs. There are staff who can't read or write, and they expect to just sit or tidy up all day. My colleagues and I are picking up the slack, feeling understaffed, and having to tiptoe around these situations. It’s never been this bad before.

Some staff won’t touch certain fruits due to sensory issues, can’t read a book, can’t communicate effectively, can’t lift, can’t change nappies, and struggle to talk to parents. And they’re all getting paid the same as the rest of us. I’m just wondering where these people are coming from, as it feels like there’s no industry standard anymore. It makes me feel like my qualifications and experience are being devalued. We’ve been patient, but the burden feels heavier each day.

That is terrible.

I can assure you that 'cheapest childcare possible', wasn't the main criteria for my son and daughter in law. Hence the nearly £2,000 a month they pay (to help the nursery subsidise the ones getting free childcare).

They ARE expecting that the people they are leaving their child with, whilst they are both out at work, could at least spell FATHER!

"We" as a society want cheap childcare, and are happy to pay workers minimum wage.
When the government tried to insist level 3 workers needed GCSEs in English and Maths to qualify, there was soon a recruitment crisis in nurseries and those requirements had to be dropped.

If your son and daughter in law want to ensure only highly qualified professionals care for their child then they will need to employ a nanny, and it's going to cost them more than £2k.

I agree, which is why I couldn't understand why you mentioned it.

It just demonstrates that as training standards have lowered, you have more poor educational practice. There is less understanding from staff about how children learn, and more mindless activity to keep children busy.

I'm not sure expecting that the staff could at least have a basic grasp of the English language, ie spell 'Father' correctly would mean being a highly qualified professional!

Just commenting here as I am so gobsmacked by the amount of posts! Had to scroll for days to get to the end! 😛

My two cents?
I work with special needs kids in a primary school, my background working with children is extensive, I hold many qualifications and even in my role we get relief staff and new staff coming in who are clearly not up for the job. A lot of the time they will be moved on but some stay. Passion is what makes a good educator not just qualifications. You need to love children and be there for the right reasons. I have a close friend who works in childcare, she is the kindest soul who loves kids but she is broken. Constantly getting sick and thoroughly burnt out.

Why do the children need to get anything out of any activity other than enjoyment? Not every moment of their day has to be a learning opportunity, just let them play in peace with no adult intervention. It is amazing what imagination children have when they are allowed to use it and what they learn by working things out for temselves.

What do your employers say?

Yep. I sympathise, but unfortunately there is a mismatch between their expectations and what the wages and terms offered by the childcare sector will buy.

I'm not suggesting it was a bed of roses then. But it cannot be denied that the Tories did a lot more damage over the last 14 years and things have got worse.

But don't toddlers learn mostly through play at that age? Sensory input and such? Montessori nurseries are very much run on this basis and children tend to thrive there.

I'm old. I did the NNEB. 2 years of 3 days per week in college and 2 per week in placement. Somebody I work with just did an NVQ in 4 months. The solution to getting staff into childcare has always been to dumb it down and lower standards/ratios.

Useless people will work in nurseries until there's enough good staff to fill the vacancies, which won't happen until the pay increases.

Terrible nurseries will stay open because the inspections are easy to cheat, and the demand for places is so high they can always get customers.

Being brought to a table, having a hand painted and pushed onto paper and then being wiped and moved on isn't particularly enjoyable either!

Adult led handprint art is the opposite of free play.

I do get where you are coming from. When my DD was really struggling with GCSE's and her mock results were really poor, although she had the academic ability to do the A level work, there were 3 courses she could do at college without maths and english and low GCSE grades - construction, hair and beauty and child care - all the non academic girls from her school opted for either child care or hair and beauty. They then get employed in a nursery with little or no experience of children.

But on the other end of the spectrum I work in a school and we have a pre school/nursery attached and we have an apprentice who was hired at 16 and goes to college one day a week, ( he is also doing maths and English GCSE again!!) but keeps failing as he really has no idea but he is absolutely fantastic with the children - especially 2 specific SEN children. They asked him for interview I think because he was a boy and when he had to do a task with a group of children he was more switched on and able to manage a group of 3 yr olds than practitioners with 30 yrs experience!! He is doing amazing and is a total asset to the school - the HT is mesmerized how good he really is and wants to invest in further training but he can barely read or write so it wouldn't be fair on him.

Absolutely. Staff are doing things because it's what they're supposed to do. Ask them the reasoning behind things and they're lost. They pour the Lego out on the table. I pour it out and make a red-yellow-red-yellow tower to make children think about patterns, sit 2 figures on chairs near each other to encourage role-play/language, sort a pile of blue bricks into a pile so children think about colour, I take most of the chairs away so children are encouraged to stand so they can reach across the table easier, etc.

That's the point the pp was making though? What does a child get out of handprint art? 9 times out of ten it's the educator that picks whatever the 'art' is going to be, only specific paint colours are allowed to be used, it's very often a matter of calling the child away from what they are engaged in to have paint squirtex on their hand, brushed on by the adult who thenpresseschilds hand on to the paper the later adds the eyes, feathers etc to create a row of identical whatevers. There's no fun, learning, experimenting, sensory experience or creativity there that you would have with an easal set up with a variety of paints, different types of brushes etc, and yes lots of child do enjoy painting their own hands in that situation but there is joy and learning in that experience that they choose and control

I agree much of the handprint art is not very child led. If you could get the same end result by doing it while the child is asleep, you'd be better off doing something else.

These answers kind of show what we mean by early years being devalued though.
Why does it matter if staff understand child development? Why does it matter what they do with the children? It's just playing, any warm body in the room will do.

If they spent the entire day at a table doing nothing except finger painting, then I would understand your concern. But they don't. It's just a small 5 minute activity in a 6 hour day. They do plenty of other things besides that.

Gosh you're hard work 😂
The poster that brought this one minor example up was purely demonstrating that as qualification requirements fall (eg 2 years at college Vs 4 months in work "training") practitioners lack deeper knowledge of child development and early learning.

It concerns me that babies are 7.30 am to 6 pm with staff that are not engaging , or not taking them out in a pram for a walk , and spend all day in one room.

Thank you so much you have explained that so much better than I did

Thank you, wish I hadn't mentioned it now

There are far more worrying things going on in our nurseries, it really was just a passing comment and just something that annoys me every day when I pass our village nursery