The hours are long, the pay is low and the paperwork is never-ending; is this going force you into changing your career in working in childcare?
Childcare is a rewarding career to have, watching children develop and grow into independent, opinionated little people. Many practitioners say they chose to start working in childcare because they wanted to make a difference in children’s lives. Early years settings have a huge impact on the lives of children and their families; some children can spend up to 50 hours a week in nursery setting. This means that many practitioners get to observe children hitting their milestones for the very first time. This can be a great feeling to have as a practitioner, with the knowledge that you contributed to a child’s learning and skills they will have for the rest of their lives. However for many practitioners the reality of a day in nursery isn’t all meeting milestones and happiness.
There is another side to working in childcare, that many practitioners simply cannot take any longer. Many settings are open for 10 hours a day, usually 8am until 6pm. With new government legislation being introduced, this could increase to 6am until 8pm, to meet the needs of working parents. However with a number of practitioners being parents themselves, how will they be able to balance home and work life effectively? A working day can already be emotionally exhausting for practitioners and children, adding extra hours to this working day is bound to impact further on this. However longer working days may enable practitioners to work shorter days over the week or allow for more part time roles to be undertaken. This could help practitioners ease the pressure of long working hours.
Low pay is another factor that is forcing practitioners to leave the job. The average salary for a qualified practitioner in the UK is between £14,000 and £17,000, depending on location. This is in the lower percentile of income in the country. Many practitioners find this difficult to live on; however with the introduction of the National Living Wage, those aged over 25 years old will benefit from a wage increase up to £7.20 an hour. This is set to continue increasing over the next four years to reach £9 per hour. This could mean that nursery practitioners are no longer left behind on low wages, attracting more individuals to the profession.
Working with children involves a great deal of observation, planning and tracking. Paperwork is a huge factor pushing practitioners out of childcare. With the introduction of the revised EYFS in 2012, settings were told that this newly revised curriculum would minimise paperwork; however practitioners are yet to see this happen. For many practitioners, it can seem that paperwork takes over the day with registers to mark, risk assessments to sign, observations to complete, learning journeys to fill in and tracking sheets to complete. Many feel that not enough time is spent with the children anymore; just playing, exploring and learning together. However practice is constantly changing and what we uncover about how children learn is influencing the future of early education.
There are many factors that are encouraging practitioners to give up on working in childcare, however sometimes looking for the silver lining is all that is needed. That silver lining can be a child’s first word, a child being dry all day in his big boys pants or even a big smile from a child who has been off nursery for a couple of days. Children are the future and regardless of the stress and tiredness the career can cause, it is probably the most rewarding job in the world.
Well I do my best , the only work I do at home is the parents evening prep which takes about an hour for each key child! We are on £9.04 an hour which is high wage for our area! I also only work 21 hours within that time I have to try and fit all my typed up observations and all the other work that we all have to get done! Undervalued and massively underpaid! I am 40 now and have advised my children not to go into child care for this very reason! Such a shame but that’s the way it is now.
I retrained as a child care practitioner when both my children were in Junior school. I loved the job, still do but an inflexible employer coupled with mobility issues for me meant I had to consider giving up the job I adored. I’d been involved with aspects of childcare for many years meaning when I actually left the profession it was over 20 years experience I was taking. There was no option to change the situation which made me sad. Yes I’ve moved onto a better paid role which is better for me, no my training hasn’t been wasted the skills I learnt looking after children & with their families stand me in very good stead for discharging patients from hospital! But the article is right the paperwork is getting bigger. I used to hve a note book in my pocket I was always observing & jotting down things. Twice a week when I was in my group I would spend the day with the camera, then on my planning day I would print all my pictures combine with my.notes all my observations would be done. Planning was always child led. Activities were always child led no pre cut shapes telling the child that what they were colouring was a star, a hand etc. I encouraged them to look at pictures, look at models then choose from what was available to create their star. We had painting the babies *dollies) because that’s what the children wanted to do, then they bathed them. The children loved it. One day the children got covered in cornflour it was a lovely warm day, we cleaned them off outside whilst chasing them with a hosepipe. The children loved it. It’s the moments like that, that can’t be planned that offer so much & which I miss. If I could get back into childcare with a wage that matches my role I’d be there tomorrow!!!!!
However, it’s a rewarding job?? Maybe when I first joined, now I find that practitioners and managers especially are all under pressure. My manager does not do stress well and we all pay for it. We are dealing with stressed out bosses, stressed out parents and stressed out children, many of whom have additional needs, so the extra paperwork is phenomenal. I feel like a social worker and therapist, only on a minimum wage. Its all well and good saying we are not in childcare for the money, its a vocation etc. It is more the lack of respect as a professional and lack of support by management that gets, plus the amount of hours I put in unpaid, All of us staff are buying resources out of our own pocket because the nursery owner has barely enough money to pay us all! The owner actually went unpaid themselves one month. It is beyond a joke. The training in our area in non-existent at the moment, and we can only afford 1 training course a year, the rest is done online as its cheaper. The government should be looking at supporting early years financially, as in subsidising practitioners like they do teachers. If they expect us to be early years teachers, pay us a decent wage. I am leaving early years at the end of the term. I have 18 years experience and a BA Honours Degree in early years education. I can’t afford to stay in the profession anymore and quite frankly I can’t handle the stress. I will miss the children, but not the rest.
you can say ‘however’ as many times as you like but the fact remains that early childcare practitioners are not recognised for all the work they do! it is not only the ridiculous amount of paperwork they have to do, mostly IN THEIR OWN TIME, its the courses they HAVE to do, e.g.; safeguarding, health and safety, etc., etc., again mostly IN THEIR OWN TIME, and only being paid the National Living Wage or just above, even though practitioners need at least level 2 (preferable level 3) to work in childcare, Practitioners do not just look after the children in their care, they teach them new skills and prepare them for school (ALL REQUIRED) why isn’t this more valued in our society?
Absolutely agree with all of this. I am one of those who should have retired at 60 last year, government changed it so I get to work another six years. My point is the workload is high with very little reward, financially or being shown respect for the hard work that goes into being a practitioner.