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.

I'm in adult social care and I'm having similar issues. My line manager has outright admitted that I'm doing bleeding everything and she doesn't want to see what will happen if I leave. But I'm not superhuman. I can do the work of 1.5 people, maybe two at a push, but I cannot do the work of 3 staff.

Some weeks I'm on my knees because of it. Why are these people on the same hourly rate as me?

This is the point the staff on this thread are trying to make. Untrained and unqualified people do not have the understanding to properly plan activities to move children on in their learning. Take the Duplo example, I may put it out and sit with the children but I'm using it for different purposes depending on the child, e.g. colour recognition and matching, following a pattern, counting, fine motor skills to put the blocks together, imagination (what will they make) etc. I'm also observing - are they taking the blocks away in a transporting schema, putting them in the sand as bricks on a building site, using them as loose parts to represent something else, what language are they using, how can I extend their learning?
With the best will in the world an untrained person is not going to be doing this while taking photos for evidence, writing it up on a tablet and linking to the characteristics of effective learning while simultaneously having conversations with children, modelling vocabulary and encouraging sharing!

I totally take the point about costs but if you're paying a lot of money for nursery which experience do you prefer for your child?

We need a huge rethink about early years provision in this country. With a for-profit business model the motive is always going to be to keep costs such as staffing as low as possible to maximise profit. I feel it needs to be seen as something to which every child is entitled and therefore state funded like primary and secondary education. The current mishmash of provision, "free" hours, charges for consumables etc. is a mess, and the children who most need early years education to level the playing field are not getting it.

I'm not a high earner but I would pay more tax willingly to provide comprehensive quality early years provision for all children whose parents wish to access it.

I'm having a lot of difficulty following your reasoning there.

Go and do a little more homework on Montessori nurseries...

We all are. What job is there where the hardest part is getting there on time?

I pay £2k per month/per child for nursery and the only complaint I have is how poorly the staff are paid. I'm incredibly happy with their care and the nursery is excellent but they absolutely deserve to be paid more.

Yes, I'm having huge issues with staff who struggle with exactly the following:

Eg being able to understand and communicate with someone who is non verbal. Being able to understand often very subtle body language with missing it meaning distressed behaviour.

Some shifts would have been easier if I was below ratios and lone working. At least I wouldn't have had to resolve and deescalate challenging behaviour that was entirely triggered by my co-"worker".

It’s even worse for agency TAs for 1:1 children in primary schools. It is actually really hard to find someone suited to the role of a 1:1 with a high needs child, willing to be treated like dirt by the school SLT all while being paid peanuts.

It’s a true scandal the calibre of agency staff we get in to look after (usually chase around the school) the most needy children. We often joke that our SENCO pulls them in off the street from the bus stop outside. They often have limited English too.

Obviously, good teachers feed this back and refuse to have them back the following day. But the not
so good teachers, and increasingly we have more of them (again due to the fact that schools need a body to stand in front of the classroom and a bad teacher is apparently better than no teacher), are just happy to have the child out of their hair.

I have. Not sure what you're getting at here?

You assume wrong. I work in adult social care. Set off as a care worker for the council over 20 years ago and I'm now a social worker.

I'd happily do care work again in a heartbeat and still remember fondly some of the clients I had back then, all now long dead (in fact I'm starting to see some of their adult children trickle in now). I have family members who work in care and in day centres.

But the fact is it doesn't pay enough to keep people in it for long because it's undervalued as a service. If it paid well and was competitive based on the demonstration of caring skills and values. There should be pride in doing jobs like childcare and adult social care, there should be proper promotion opportunities and decent pay scales for those who are good at it.

Crikey, I didn't realise it was so full of spelling mistakes etc! I need to focus more when typing

Letting children use their own imagination is never devaluing childcare. Many years ago the children in my class found a large box approx 2ftx3ft. That box was played with for nearly a whole term, it was a spaceship, a boat and many other things that the children thought of. They drew on it, they used glue to stick bits and pieces on to it. They covered it in blanket, they read stories to it. The argued over it, they worked problems out together and they laughed. Hours and hours of imaginative play without a single adult being involved, it was truly wonderful.
Producing identical hand print pictures is not great but neither is parents moaning because their child didn't make a hand print Christmas card like little Tommy.
Yes i understand child development but i also understand freedom of play and that as an adult i don't need to make little Ava's day all about fixed ideas of learning and ticking boxes. I know that she will learn so much from "just" being able to play.

I had a big plan this weekend after visiting an art exhibition where a big cardboard box has been used to paint on. So I have a bug box I was going to emulsion it white then let the kids walk on it and put hand prints all over it in the garden.
Then I read this thread and don't feel so enthusiastic. New suggestions please.

Don’t paint a bug box.

paint pebbles into bugs to encourage the bugs to stay. Name the colours to younger ones, let older ones predict and then mix colours eg red and yellow…what does it make? Model counting - one eye, two eyes , three eyes! Etc
ditto legs

collect twigs to make bug hiding places. Introduce longer and shorter as the beginning of measurement.

leave some pieces of wood/slate or similar on grass or garden bed several days in advance.
turn them over with children watching- what can they see? What can they/you name? What names can you find out from a book?

read stories involving bugs. The Very Hungry Caterpillar and whatever else you have.

Thanks Marcioix for your wonderful ideas. Very much appreciated. Can you come back with some more please as I wasn't meant to write bug box it's a big box I've got and a fat finger.,😁

Yes this is true. But the knock on effect of PIP being denied/reduced is people having to take work they're not suitable for to pay the bills. It's all one big tangled mess that people like to pretend is a simple case of "scroungers taking my tax money".