How typical is it for nannies to have childcare qualifications?

[SolasEile]

Maybe my expectations are out of line but I'm trying to hire a part-time nanny right now to take care of my DC (DS 3 years and DD 4 months) and am using a nanny agency as I had hoped they would have some great, qualified candidates. So far none of the candidates I've seen have any professional childcare qualifications other than basic CPR training. Am I misguided in expecting some educational background in childcare e.g. courses taken in child psychology or education?

I had assumed that most professional nannies would have started out studying child development or education in some way. Am I being totally unrealistic? The candidates I've seen so far are more like babysitters than what I would expect for a professional nanny. That would be fine if I were paying babysitter rates but their salary broken down hourly is nearly double what an average babysitter would charge and there is the hefty agency fee on top too. None of the candidates I've seen seemed that interested in children either - one of them told me she was looking for nannying work because it pays well and she had a car loan to pay off!!

It's my first time hiring anyone to take care of my children apart from a few 'date night' babysitters though maybe I'm just being unrealistic...?

It depends - in London, none of our two nannies had any formal childcare qualifications. Our mother's help had nursery nurse qualification from Denmark and we had a couple of very ad hoc childcarers, one was a teacher and the other a qualified nanny.

Out here in the sticks (well Bucks anyway), most of the professional help we've had has been very qualified, NNEB or NVQ level 3. Unless you're running a nursery, I'm not sure you actually need a degree to look after little children an NVQ3 is perfect. You need a DBS check, a paediatric first aid cert that is in date, experience and lots and lots of common sense.

I would not go through an agency. If you're in London, post an ad on childcare.co.uk, with a good salary and you should get some good candidates.

I have less emphasis on qualifications when hiring and more on experience - whether it be in nannying/nursery/own kids.
My view is, I don't have Childcare qualifications and manage to look after my kids but I do have experience, enthusiasm and ability to learn on the job.
It's scary when first hiring a nanny but I think gut instincts go a long way- meet a few and see who you click with. Good luck.

That does not sound like the sort of candidates an agency should be sending. You would rightly expect there to be candidates who view nannying as a career, people with lots of experience but no formal training, those with lots of experience and some formal training, those with training but not much experience.
You do not expect someone who is just doing the role to pay off their car loan, has no interest in children, has no experience or training.

I think that qualified nannies that are doing this job as a career choice are probably looking for full time positions rather than part time, particularly if they are looking for jobs through an agency.

I have a qcf level three in childcare and a degree in education. I have also studied short courses like attachment theory and child development. Nanny agencies wouldn't touch me as I didn't have full time nanny experience ( Just weekend).

Qualified nannies with experience and good experience find work really fast. They are looking for full time job.

And they might not go through agencies

You might have more luck using childcare.co.uk

I did wonder if that might be part of the issue nbee. A friend of a friend is a brilliant nanny, has a BA in Child Psychology, loves children etc and was signed up with the agency I'm looking through but she only works FT.

I'm not looking for PhDs in Child Developneht or anything - NVQ-level is exactly what I mean coupled with a real love of working with children. Even as a parent I have taken some classes and attended talks on issues like positive discipline, sibling rivalry etc so I would have thought that someone doing the job for a living would have done the same or more.

Thanks for the suggestion to put up my own ad online. I think that'll be my next step.

I own a company that helps people find staff - honestly? I disregard a LOT of cvs for jobs because people have the qualifications but no experience. I know that's harsh, but with something like childcare you need to know the candidate can respond in a real life situation rather than know the theory from a textbook.

Also, to give you an idea of ratios, the last Job I interviewed for was for a full time nanny and I had about 200 applicants, interviewed 20 on the phone, met with 5, parents met with 2.

Obviously it depends on the role and where you are in the country, but you maybe need to sift through more people to get the perfect person? Good luck

IME the majority of nannies have some sort of qualification. You need a basic qualification to be Ofsted registered and all the nannies I know are Ofsted registered.

I do think that experience is far more important though.

The agency sending you people with neither qualifications or experience is unacceptable. Post an ad yourself on nannyjob, chlildcare.co.uk or gumtree and you'll find some good candidates. Or shop round for a different agency.

IME, having emplyed three nannies (over seven years, I hasten to add), every nanny I've interviewed has a childcare qualification. Depending on their age, this has been a NNEB or NVQ. Our current nanny has a montessori qualification.

I would be looking for qualifications plus experience, in your shoes I think, as your children are young. If they were older children, all at school, and I was looking more for a nanny/housekeeper type person, I would consider someone older with no formal childcare qualifications.

I've gone through an agency once, and all nanies had a qualification. Our other nannies have come to us through word of mouth. The best nanny we had was through word of mouth, and she had far more experience than she had qualifications.

Our nannies have always worked three days a week, though long days. They have other jobs (in childcare) on the other two days of the week. When we first went to an agency six years ago, I was told that nearly of nannies now worked for more than one family.

There is no legal requirement for nannies to be qualified aside from CPR and DBS certificates. As someone pointed out it may be because you are only needing part time that the agency are sending you less desirable (crap) candidates.

I'm in London and a lot of my friends found families through advertisements in the village shops, book stores/cafés. Also childcare.co.uk, mumsnet local, and gumtree.
I don't think your expectations are unrealistic at all, having once nannies myself i was shocked to see the amount of young girls just doing it for the money, so you are right to be more selective!!!

I don't have a qualification. I was on the NNEB course and then my brother died, my parents moved away and the college closest to us only did two yearly intake. So I had to wait until I was 18 to start.

I found a live-in job that was rubbish wages but short hours with a 10 month old baby, my plan was to look after him for two years, then do the course with some care of him when I was not at college but the dad walked out after 15 months, she couldn't afford me on her own so I looked for another job with the plan to stay 9 months, started looking after 1.6 and 2.6 year olds who lost their mum, I loved them to pieces 9 months later so stayed 4 years (they now have children of their own who I am godmother to!) 28 years, 9 long term positions and excellent references later, I have never had a problem finding work. I'm very picky about jobs, only go for interviews if the job is exactly what I want, have my own contract that I don't budge on and have been very lucky in all my jobs and still see all the children (apart from my first but he moved to Sydney 7 years ago so not for the want of trying.)

I've never regretted not having a qualification even though some nannies think that I am not a professional nanny because of it. However, I do recommend that new nannies get a qualification, my cousins 15 year old daughter wants to be a nanny so I have told her what courses to do, to get lots of babysitting experience and she now teaches 4-12 year olds drama.

'There is no legal requirement for nannies to be qualified aside from CPR and DBS certificates.'

Nannies are not legally required to have ANY certification at all. CPR (I think you mean paediatric first aid) and DBS checks are not a legal requirement for nannies in the UK.

It's obviously a very good thing to have, but it's not a legal requirement and that's an important distinction.

very surprised you are using an agency and they arent sending you nannies with quals - many local agencies near me either wont accept a nanny if not some sort of qual,unless got lots of years exp as a nanny

im a NNEB and work 3 days a week - dont need or want to work 5 days, did that for 15yrs and earned a very good wage but too tired to spend it lol

went to 3 days 8 years ago and best decision i ever made :)

dont suppose you are near blondesland aka kent?

Outraged- ahh Sorry I was meaning first aid and DBS were compulsory if joining an agency.

You don't need any qualifications to be a nanny and just first aid to be registered with ofsted.

I'm really surprised that you're being sent people with no qualifications. And also with "CPR training". My local agency wants min. 2 years experience and/or a minimum of a level 3 qualification. Preferably both. They like you to have paediatric first aid training and recommend that you do it ASAP if you don't.

Iron you need basic training to be registered with ofsted as a nanny too, and insurance.

1stBaby I also don't think that's a fair statement RE part time = crap candidates. I do not work full time for any family. I juggled two part-time jobs at a time until last July when I went down to 3 days a week. Not wanting to work full time for one family doesn't make me a shit candidate. There is no way I'd work full time as a nanny again, it leaves way too little time to do my own thing.

I'm qualified but then I always wanted to be a nanny from a young age so I knew that's what I would study at college.

Ditto rattie that comment bugged me. I'm a fantastic nanny but don't want to or have to financially work 5 days - dropping to 3 over 8yrs ago was the best thing I ever did

I am a nanny. I have a degree in education but no 'childcare qualifications' I feel that experience speaks volumes. I didn't choose to be a nanny, I was offered the job when I finished my degree. I knew the family as I would sometimes babysit for them throughout my studies. My education background and wide range of experience looking after children gave me the knowledge to take care of children as a nanny. I personally think if I had gone to a nanny college or similar it would have been a waste of time as I have a degree in education and good experience. Being a nanny is very similar to being a mum, and although I am not a mum yet, I think it comes naturally if you have a genuine love and passion for working with children. Which I do :)

Totally agree about the experience crymeariverwoo I was once interviewing with a family who were really snotty about why I wasn't a Norland trained nanny. I said well I have 10 years baby experience and I remember very little about my training. I have learnt from each job I've done.

I dont have any nanny qualifications at all and have been registered with ofsted for 5 years. Ive also been insured the whole time. The only officially recognised qualification is my first aid which of course I keep up to date.

Full time nannies are rare in my view as there are few full time jobs, it all tends to be part time. Keep in mind that in nannying, 40 hours a week is part time. A full time job is 50-65 hours.
Like many nannies on here, I work part time - 4 days a week. I did a 2 year course at college but that was 20 ish years ago now, so it is experience and short CPD courses that perhaps should count for more than the formal qualification now.