High level of frustration among nursery staff during the pandemic, study reveals

Findings from the first wave of the large-scale research project, which looks at the challenges that the pandemic poses for the sector, show ‘striking’ levels of anger and frustration among nursery staff due to the strain that they have been put under, along with feeling undervalued.

Nursery staff reported that they faced fear and anxiety when going into work, due to potential exposure to Covid - and many said that they worked without sick pay.

During the third lockdown from 4 January 2021, when some of the interviews with 38 nursery managers and 44 childcare practitioners took place, primary and secondary schools were asked to close to all but the children of key workers and vulnerable children, while early years settings were expected to remain open to all children.

A practitioner from an independent nursery in London said, ‘I think that's what the anger issues were when they announced we had to stay open. Staff felt we were being used as guinea pigs and being put at risk. And that we're not like teachers in school, we don't get sick pay. You know, private settings. We are paid the lowest amount and we don't get sick pay, we don't get holiday pay, and I think that's what the general anger was at.’

Nursery managers indicated that a key concern during this time was dealing with feelings of neglect and anxiety among staff.

One headteacher at a maintained nursery school in Yorkshire said, ‘Staff are angry, feel undervalued, feel overlooked, feel vulnerable, feel that it’s discriminatory in that it exists…because most, a high percentage of the childcare workforce is female, and feel expendable and that nobody really kind of cares about them… do they really understand the anxiety that my team are feeling, do they really understand the pressure that is on us to keep the thing, to keep it all running when we’ve got pressure from parents, pressure from local authority, pressure from the government, staff engagement…’

Nursery managers and staff articulated what they saw as the Government’s instrumental rationale for expecting early years settings to remain open: solely to enable parental employment. It appeared to them that children’s care and education was not central to policy rationale.

Low pay and lack of recognition continue to be a key issues for staff in the sector, especially where work intensification and enhanced responsibilities during Covid were not reflected in pay and where early years staff were initially not recognised as key workers.

A SENCO at a maintained nursery school said, ‘I don’t care whether I’m called a key worker, my wages are still frozen. My colleagues are still paid as though they’re stacking shelves in supermarkets, when they’re doing really skilful work. It pisses me off.’

A number of nursery managers and leaders felt the educational aspect of their work was misunderstood or deliberately sidelined.

An early years professional who works at an independent nursery in London said, ‘We do the most important job, we nurture these children, we provide them with the skills that they need to be ready for school and to thrive. You know, we make them into hopefully independent children, resilient, who can self-regulate. I don’t think that’s perceived to be what a lot of the society thinks is education. I don’t think they think that education starts until they walk into a school gate.’

Jennifer Tomlinson, professor of gender and employment relations at University of Leeds, who is leading the project, said, ‘It is clear from our first findings that nursery staff have been placed under significant strain to continue to provide education and care during the Covid-19 pandemic. This has often been at a cost to their own health and well-being. We have been concerned at the level of risk and vulnerability to Covid nursery staff have been exposed to, often without access to full sick pay.  

She added, ‘The level of frustration and anger among nursery workers has been striking; nurseries have provided essential support to children and working families over the past year, yet their work continues to be undervalued and there is a lack of recognition from government and in public discussion of the important early education nursery staff provide.’