('Entertainers need not apply', 15 February).
The childcare recruitment advertisement she criticises has appeared on television regularly and all my family find it very amusing. It is not about childcarers being entertainers, but emphasises the fact that children need to be listened to and that their views need to be taken into account.
Recently I attended a seminar organised by Save the Children which quoted many articles from the United Nations Convention on the rights of children. One states that 'children have the right to express their views on anything that affects them, and for those views to be listened to'. I think the advertisement expresses this point very well and is showing that it takes a very special person to be able to work with children.
This is not about dropping standards, but training people to become experienced staff for our children's future. It is called equal opportunities. I am aged 46 and had a very limited education up to the age of 35. I have worked in pre-schools and nurseries over the past ten years, studying and retraining. I am now a pre-school development worker, an NVQ assessor and a tutor for adults wishing to pursue a career in childcare. There are a great number of people with the ability to become excellent childcarers, nannies, teachers or nursery nurses, regardless of their background. Not everyone wants to study to degree level, but they can appreciate that valid qualifications are essential to maintain good standards.
My former career gave me a vast amount of experience that I have been able to share with children, parents, carers and superiors. It also gave me the ability to be a great listener and to have a great deal of experience in knowing people. I have had many sad experiences in dealing with children who have been abused, but they have been far outweighed by happy experiences of making them laugh and learn. This opportunity should be open to all people, including entertainers - which, by the way, is the career I followed for 15 years previous to childcare.
A Pugh, Beckenham, Kent
