Like Lindsay Byrne, I have also been to college for two years to study the NNEB to become a qualified nursery nurse. I have been in childcare for 17 years, working in day nurseries until I had my own children, at which point I became a registered childminder, so I could work while I looked after my own children. I consider childminding a career, and not some low form of childcare as I felt was implied. As a childminder, I am required to have yearly inspections, police checks and health checks. I believe none of this applies to nannies. I also attend a lot of training courses in my spare time to continue to learn, as I believe this is important for the children I am responsible for.
Like Lindsay Byrne, I have also been to college for two years to study the NNEB to become a qualified nursery nurse. I have been in childcare for 17 years, working in day nurseries until I had my own children, at which point I became a registered childminder, so I could work while I looked after my own children. I consider childminding a career, and not some low form of childcare as I felt was implied.
As a childminder, I am required to have yearly inspections, police checks and health checks. I believe none of this applies to nannies. I also attend a lot of training courses in my spare time to continue to learn, as I believe this is important for the children I am responsible for.
But why is it that childminders need to have so many checks and nannies do not? We both care for other people's children in a home setting. I cannot see why a nanny working in the child's home is any less capable of having a police record than a childminder working in her own home.
I agree with Ms Byrne that nannies and childminders cannot be classed as the same. One has many checks to ensure the child is cared for by a professional person, while the other could be anyone who says they want to be a nanny. I agree there are some nannies who are very professional, just as there are some childminders who are not and give the profession a bad name.
But please, do not consider childminders to be the lowest form of childcarers available, as this is simply not true.
Serreta Pritchard
Luton, Bedfordshire
