Job - nanny/ta/teacher

[summer101]

Hi everyone,
this isn't directly related to childcare.. although I'd love some advice from all you lovely people currently working with children.

Basically, I'm a first year student at university studying early childhood studies and have no idea what career to go into after completing my degree - It is a 3 year degree but i'd love to have some sort of career ambition.

I prefer working with children of a primary school age - but not sure teaching is for me - not sure i'd be able to handle a class of 30 kids, i'm not an uber confident person, but I'm sure this will come with time and experience. So being a teaching assistant is something that appeals for me, but the pay so i've heard is very low - i know it's not all about the money, but it is very low. Then I also thought about becoming a nanny, seems like a lovely job to me, but then do you nannies out there feel like you miss out on the 'team' you are a part of when working alongside others? And miss that contact with other adults during the day.

Any advice or suggestions or personal experience on good/bad points on certain careers would be great! Thanks.

Well primary teaching jobs are hard to find and you'd have to get onto a PGCE first so whilst that's a worthwhile ambition it's good to explore other options :) If you do want to go on and do that then you need to be maximising your contacts and experience whilst at university by volunteering in schools to help with reading etc as well as spending time observing teachers. By the time you graduate the PGCE may well have been abolished and teacher training done by school-centred training, so the more contacts you have in local schools the better. Spending time in schools will also help you get a feel for whether you could handle a class of 30 or not!

Being a TA I've never done!

Nannying can be very lonely, yes, but you can get out the house to see people at toddler groups/arranging playdates with other nannies etc. The downside is that if you want to work with children of primary school age there's less nannying during terms and more chauffering, homework supervision and refereeing between siblings! You also don't get to see people at toddler groups. Most nannying jobs are with babies or preschoolers. As an ECS student you might be able to find a part-time nannying job in your area to do alongside your degree to help you decide whether it's something you think you could do. Nannying jobs, especially with schoolies, are increasingly coming with a large amount of housekeeping too.

Might I suggest you look at governessing? Most governess jobs tend to be abroad, you'd need to be able to homeschool or support a British, American or International school curriculum and possibly prepare for entrance exams to UK schools in Y8.

If you did want to go into governessing a degree is extremely helpful, as is speaking a foreign language or musical ability (but those are nice additional extras, rather than prerequisites). Nannying experience is pretty essential so I suggest you get a couple of holiday nanny or au pair jobs under your belt - experience abroad is even better as it proves you can cope with being away from home.

The pay is very good BUT you often sell your soul to go with it and clients can be extremely demanding. Again, however, it's quite lonely - more so than nannying in the UK would be as you can be one of the few English-speakers around.

I worked as nanny for 10 years

and have now done a year in a kindergarten (3 - 4year olds) class at an idependant school.

Its true that being a nanny could perhaps be lonely (but i wasnt bothered by it)... after a few weeks / months hopefully you will have made lots of nanny friends... although it can be hard / require effort & also co-operatove bosses who are happy for their children to go on play dates to people who they dont know.

After 10 years i had lots and lots of nanny friends.. (and some equally good mummy friends too, met at groups etc)
I have met some of my closest life long friends through nannying.
I met up with other nannies / adults pretty much everyday (unless unforseen illness etc) so i still had adult company. We also met socially.
There was a larger group of us who during holiday time would have a BIG meet.... say 5 - 10 nannies + 10 - 20 charges at the zoo or something, and always great fun.

Howver it DOES require effort (and is much easier when you already know people, and they might no someone close to you)
It also requires bosses who are ok with it. (there are quite a few who wont be, i never worked for any of them )
Make it quite clear that you are a social person and hope to make friends to meet with during the day.. either at a park / toddler group or other each others (work) houses. If you work in an area woth not many nannies you may need to travel a fair few miles to meet up. (I tried to ensure it wasnt more than a 20min drive) You need to ensure bosses are ok paying the mileage for "you to meet your friends"... many will be but some wont!

Other wise go along to local groups etc and be chatty and friendly . If you see a new person who hasnt been before talk to them. You can advertise for friends on meet a nanny section on nannyjob.co.uk but really make the effort. and if you do it should be worth while in the end.

Oh and just to add my hourly rate at the independant school was actually higher than hourly rate nannying (if you consider hours worked per year), and after 10 years, my nannying rates were right at the top end of the scale. (I also have degree). While my hourly rate was higher at the school, my monthly pay check was higher nannying of course!

It is more and more common for people employing nannies to want a fair bit of light house work included to. (I never did, only cleared up mess made by the children during my working hours and did childrens laundry and "nursery" duties & from scratch cooking). You need to decide what you are happy to do.
Also at this moment in time it seems nanny jobs are hard to come by... i know of many fab experianced nannies, great CVs and fab references, really struggling to find work. Have to say it was never an issue for me, and so many parents loved the fact that i had a degree, so Im sure it should work in your favour too. Just something to think about

Good Luck