Staff retention is recognised as critical to the expansion of the childcare sector, and poor pay and conditions have long been cited as the main reasons why nursery workers quit their jobs. But now dissatisfaction with management has emerged as one of the issues which causes some nursery staff to move on.
The finding emerged in the latest research carried out by the Thomas Coram Research Unit, London, on behalf of the Department for Education and Skills. The study documents the main reasons why many staff remain in childcare, as well as why some leave their childcare posts or decline to enter childcare work once qualified. The research was a follow-up of a study made last year involving final year students and nursery workers from across England.
Job satisfaction
Nearly half the former students reported that childcare work was better than expected and over 90 per cent said they would recommend childcare work to their friends. The main reason for their job satisfaction was what they had gained from working with children. However, mobility was also very high.
Former students
* Just under three-quarters were found to be working in childcare or a related field.
* Nearly half had had more than one job since leaving college, and had left for a mix of reasons, some personal (most commonly to do with their own children), others work-related (most commonly the ending of short-term contracts).
* About one-tenth were not currently working in childcare, but had done so for a period since leaving college.
* About one-fifth had not worked at all in childcare. The main reasons for this were further study, inability to find a job locally, then pay and family reasons.
Nursery workers
* Almost three-quarters were still employed in their original nursery.
* Most of those who had left their previous nursery were not, however, lost to the field. Two-thirds of leavers were still in childcare-related jobs and over four-fifths expected to be working in childcare over the next five years.
* Some that we counted as having left childcare felt that they had not done so. Lesley, for example, found her childcare qualification useful in her new job as a swimming coach to children with special needs.
Management
In the new survey, nursery workers complain of a range of poor management practices. Harriet, for example, contrasted her situation in a nursery, where she had no contract and no job description, with her previous job as a librarian, where it was clear what she was expected to do. 'I was supposed to be a playgroup worker in the nursery... but if you were told to wash dishes you washed dishes.'
Dee left a nursery where the owner, she felt, did not treat children fairly and constantly undermined her decisions about children's activities.
Nicky was unhappy that non-childcare staff were counted in the ratios in the nursery where she had worked. 'When they say they're supposed to be looking after four children but they've got a group of eight, that group of eight is not getting the attention that they need.' The management response to her complaints was a reprimand.
Nannies
Although nannying was not the primary focus of this work, about one in ten (9 per cent) of the students had gone on to become nannies. Some former students had suffered from poor employment practices.
Sophie and Amanda, for example, left their jobs as live-in nannies in London because of problems including lack of contracts, increasing demands by the employer with little increase in financial rewards and inconsistent expectations.
Both, however, remained committed to working with children. Nanny agencies, from their experience, were also unreliable and often more concerned with parents' interests.
Schools
The study also reveals the popularity of working in schools. Most students had wanted to work in the maintained sector but had ended up working in private nurseries. The popularity of school jobs is largely due to the better pay and conditions. When Camilla moved from a private nursery to a nursery class her pay rose from 4 to 7.80 per hour, while her working week reduced from 44 to 32 hours. Other employment conditions improved also - she joined an occupational pension scheme and got 12 weeks'
paid holiday.
The ambition of many childcarers was still to work in a school-based nursery class, but some were facing intense local competition for jobs.
Conclusions
First, while many nursery workers were still working in the same nursery and a high proportion of former students had obtained employment in childcare, there was also considerable short-term loss among students and high staff turnover among nursery workers.
Second, recruitment and retention are affected by:
* poor pay and conditions
* poor management
* the reluctance of childcarers to work full time and use childcare services for their own children when young. Half the students expected to take time away from employment in the next five years, usually to look after their own children.
Finally, we identify five main policy issues that need to be addressed:
* management training and policies
* support for the care responsibilities of the workforce
* low pay
* diversifying the workforce
* reviewing the sustainability and desirability of the structure and training of the current workforce.
The last issue goes directly to the heart of the matter. Does Britain need a new 'core' early years worker who can replace the current split that exists between childcare worker and teacher? Or should we be thinking even more laterally and be looking to the creation of a new type of childcare worker who is trained to work with groups of children in many varied settings, from nurseries to youth clubs, and from schools to residential institutions?
Either way, we conclude that there is an urgent need to review the future of those who work with young children, preferably in the context of work with children more generally - a joined-up approach to break down old borders and compartmentalised thinking. nw
Further information
* The report Childcare Students and Nursery Workers: follow up surveys and in-depth interviews by Claire Cameron, Ann Mooney, Charlie Owen and Peter Moss is obtainable for 4.95 from DfES, PO Box 5050, Sherwood Park, Annesley, Nottingham NG15 0DJ. It is also downloadable from the DfES website (www.dfes.gov.uk).
