Gone are the days when training as a nursery nurse closed the doors to other career opportunities. Mary Evans meets three women who moved on to exciting new professions... and finds out how they did it
What do a children's officer in a theatre, the chair of an early years partnership and a civil servant at the DfES have in common? All three trained as nursery nurses. They are proof positive of the diversity of opportunities open to people with early years qualifications. En route to their present posts, the trio have undertaken an array of jobs including: working with children on cruise ships; being a play researcher and qualifying as an Ofsted inspector.
Youngsters expressing an interest in working in the early years sector are sometimes advised by careers officers and Job Centre managers to look for something more challenging and lucrative. But Kathryn Dowling, Kate McKenna and Lisa Parrott demonstrate that an early years qualification is not a careers cul-de-sac, but a gateway to a challenging and reasonably paid job, with the salary scales in their particular niches ranging from 10,000 to 25,000 and from 35,000 to 45,000.
Although the trio has followed widely different professional paths, there are common strands. They have all gone on to take further courses and qualifications. Lisa is studying to teach English as a foreign language, while Kathryn, who has just started an MBA funded by the DfES, says, 'I feel there is no such thing as an "average nursery nurse". At a time when so much restructuring is taking place within early years and education generally, it is time to raise the profile of early years professionals.'
They have taken opportunities as they have arisen and advise newly-qualified nursery nurses to follow suit. Kate says, 'There has never been a better time to be training as a nursery nurse. There are so many opportunities. If somebody says you can't do something - ignore them. You have to believe in yourself. Keep an open mind and strive for what you know you can achieve. Being a nursery nurse is an extremely important job and you should be proud of it. I saw a quote the other day, which is so true: children are 25 per cent of the population and 100 per cent of the future.'
Kate McKenna
'Never sit still' is Kate's motto, and her career has progressed from working as a nanny to chairing the Leicestershire Early Years Partnership. She has also served on the board of CACHE, become an Ofsted inspector and trained others to inspector status. While she climbed the childcare ladder, her focus has always been, 'placing children as the spark for activity'.
Indeed, Kate, now aged 40, recently changed jobs to enable her to maintain that focus. 'I worked for the local authority as head of the early years services for nine years. The service grew from just me until I had a staff team of about 16. As the service developed, my role was turning more and more into a personnel and finance manager. I was getting out and talking with parents, practitioners and children less and less. I decided I did not want to be a local authority manager with generic management skills. I wanted to maintain my passion for ensuring the future is fit for our children and that our children are fit for their future.' She is now working as an early years consultant with the Gatsby Children's Communication Project, which runs 'Playing with Words', a national research and development project set up to design and evaluate the effectiveness of an alternative way of working that will give support and encouragement to children with speech and language difficulties.
'My post enables me to be involved with local groups of children, parents and practitioners, while providing opportunities to influence the work of strategic planning processes through a portfolio of external consultancy work.
'I am proud of what I have achieved. When I was 16, I was sent off to nursery nurse college to take my NNEB because nobody thought I was clever enough to be a teacher. There is a real sense of na na na-na na!
'I spent an awful long time being told I would never get anywhere unless I re-trained to be either a teacher or a social worker. Up until very recently, the careers opportunities for nursery nurses were severely limited, but that is no longer the case. The National Childcare Strategy is at the root of it. The investment in the delivery of childcare services and in the infrastructure and support for childcare services means that people with a childcare background can become training officers, development workers and inspectors.'
Kate was working happily in a school when the turning point came in her career. 'I was 23. A post came up in a social services day nursery as deputy officer in charge. Somebody said I would never get it. I thought "blow that" and I applied and got it.
'And once there, the person who was officer in charge became my motivator. I owe her an awful lot. She used to say, "You should look at this training course" or "Have you seen that?" She was my inspiration. She was quite terrifying, but gave me opportunities and I took them.
'I would not have got where I am if I had not been on courses, gone to conferences, met people and networked. You need to widen your horizons and find out about other people's experiences, particularly if you are working as a nursery nurse in a provision, otherwise you can become very isolated.' Her salary rate is between 35,000 and 45,000.
Lisa Parrott
Working women often have to juggle their various commitments, but Lisa has learned juggling as part of her job as children's officer at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds.
'A few weeks ago we ran a session called Dancing Stories for five- to seven-year-olds, with lots of music and movement. We were being clowns and the children did juggling with scarves, which looked incredibly beautiful. It is quite easy to juggle with scarves, even I could do it, as they float down so slowly.'
Lisa, 31, who already had a NNEB, initially worked part time at the theatre showing tour parties around backstage to fund her way through a BA in Professional Studies (Playwork) at Leeds Metropolitan University. When she finished the course she worked for six months with the Children's Society on a research project looking at what qualities children think playworkers should have. 'It involved going round to after-school clubs and schools, and finding out what the children want from their playworker. It was to do with participation which is very hot at the moment - how you can involve children and how you can value what they have said.
'When I started at the theatre, I realised if someone had said "some day you'll be working in a theatre", when I was taking my NNEB, I would not have believed them. I haven't got a drama background. I wasn't in the plays at school - I was far too shy.'
The Playhouse is known as the Theatre of the North and plays host to household names such as Sir Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart. 'The ethos is that the community and education are at the heart of the theatre's work and we are supported by all the members of staff. I work on a variety of educational and community-based projects, planning and facilitating activities for children from nursery age up to year six (age 11.) Every day is different.
'Each month we have a creative education week where the focus is on a different age group, and children come in for two-hour sessions. In a couple of weeks, we will run one for nursery and foundation stage children, as an introduction to the theatre. It will be based on the carnival. I will show the children round the auditorium and they will follow a trail to the workshop, picking up things connected with carnival - maybe some feathers or musical instruments. They will take part in activities such as storytelling, dance and movement, and they will make something, maybe a head-dress, to wear. We have lots of props and musical instruments and there is a huge costume department.
'I do a lot of planning, but have to be able to adapt quickly and have several ideas up my sleeve. We tend to work with inner-city schools and communities. Last week, I was working with 11-year-olds - and the variety was amazing. Some are very grown up, have an attitude and want to be seen as cool, while others are very young.
'I always wanted to work with children and thought about teaching, but this job is much more fun. My brother is a teacher and I see that he gets quite stressed. I have the best of both worlds - I work with the children, but I don't have the pressure. Although I work hard, it is fun.
'I haven't followed a career plan, but where opportunities have arisen, I have taken them. We take people on placement, such as students from schools and university students on work experience, but we haven't had a nursery nurse.
'I am going to Thailand in August for eight weeks to teach English to children - this should be another exciting challenge! I have the full support of the Playhouse and hope to share some of the skills I have developed here, as well as bring new ones back to share with my colleagues in Arts Development.
'Things have changed since I qualified in 1991. There is a great emphasis on the family. The Government and people working in childcare are putting more value on learning through play. People are now realising that when children are playing they are learning.
'My advice if you interested in my route, is to find out more about what is going on at your local theatre, and perhaps work as a volunteer in your holidays. The arts not very highly paid. The scale for my area is between 10,000 and 25,000.'
Kathryn Dowling
Kathryn is a high achiever. Aged 29, she is on a two-year secondment from her post as manager of a family centre in Lambeth to the DfES, where she is working as a policy and implementation manager supporting the Early Excellence Programme.
The job entails being the lead officer for 25 Early Excellence Centres, working in partnership with other Government initiatives, engaging with the Early Education and Maintained Nursery School Forum - an initiative set up by former early years minister Margaret Hodge as a ministerial working group - and working for the minister for education.
The role takes her around the country visiting projects and it carries some lovely perks. 'I can use an excellent, subsidised gym and I am a member of the Civil Service Riding Club in Hyde Park - job perks I haven't had in other posts,' she enthuses.
But more importantly for Kathryn, it has put her at the heart of early years policy making, in a position to play her part in the development of initiatives, as well as providing her with the opportunity to make a difference in the sector.
Since joining the DfES, Kathryn has signed up for an MBA, because she believes early years managers need to acquire business skills so, for example, they can manage their settings and staff effectively and undertake strategic planning. Her fellow students include managers of big companies and a range of professionals, but there are no other students from the early years sector.
Her career has already taken her round the world. After qualifying as an NNEB, Kathryn's jobs included working in a pre-prep school, as a child and youth officer on P&O cruise liners, as a nanny and as the manager of a playscheme for workers at University College Hospital, London and Great Ormond Street Hospital Trust. All the time she was learning and acquiring new skills.
'My advice is find yourself a mentor. I have always looked for people in positions of authority, looked at their style, watched how they worked and asked questions. Do not be afraid of asking questions. Find a second string to your bow.'
She describes working on the cruise liners as a 'baptism of fire'. 'The parents expected their children not to have a good time, but to have a fantastic time - all of the time. You would not have this kind of pressure in a nursery setting. I was working on contract for six to nine months at a time, doing a ten-hour day, with ages ranging from babies to teenagers.
'There are more opportunities now than when I was at college. I feel the status of early years professionals has risen. When I was doing my placements from college it was interesting and fun, but I felt very much the junior. I felt if I had stayed, it would always been in an assistant capacity. Even on the cruise ship, the head of our department was a teacher. Now, nursery nurses can gain the assessor's award. They have been empowered. There is more scope and more progression available for nursery nurses.
'Aside from the challenge, one of the key reasons I started with the play scheme was the pay. If you work in a nursery you are not as likely to be rewarded at the level of a decent living wage. I am on secondment on the DfES salary scale earning around 28,000. I would expect by the time I leave here to be going to the next stage in the 30,000-plus bracket. I see myself going in a more strategic direction within the field, keeping my interest in early years at heart.'
