We know nursery nurse pay is poor, and the hours relatively long compared with schools, but how can you measure the satisfaction of working alongside a teacher with 30 children, against being one of a team of six caring for every aspect of the development of 24 children? The satisfaction factor is paramount to many of us who choose to stay in this field.
Yet out of a class of just 12, at least six students have no intention of working as a nursery nurse. Among them were two prospective children's nurses, two social workers and two teachers. With two already promised as nannies, one as a children's rep for a holiday company and at least one intending to work as a classroom nursery nurse, that leaves just two candidates for the day nursery market.
In my class of 30 when I studied some years ago, every one of us intended to use our qualification in the appropriate field. Salaries are probably better now, yet nursery nurses are getting fewer in number. It is time for serious research into who is studying childcare, why they have chosen this field and where they end up working.
With the Government's increasing dependence on childcare to facilitate parents returning to the workplace, we need more than an advertising campaign for people who are 'good with children'. We need a properly-defined salary and awards structure, and the professional status that two years' full-time study would bring in other fields.
In the meantime, I am keeping my fingers crossed for at least two qualified, experienced members to join our team this summer.
Helen Rowlands, manager. Hope Park Community Nursery, Liverpool Hope University College
