Would you let Vicky Pollard look after your kids?
Of course you wouldn’t. Why? Because she’s a fictional character! Unfortunately, she’s been adopted as a catch-all bash-the-kids symbol for the social problem of the day. This time, it’s our friends in the Professional Association of Teachers (PAT) who are having a go. Before we launch into them, I suppose I should acknowledge that it’s no surprise really, reactionary ideas coming from a bunch of numpties who’ve managed to join a trade union pledged never to strike.
From the Oxford Mail:
…there was a warning that nursery staff who discuss their nights out drinking in front of toddlers risk creating a generation of “Vicky Pollards”.
Chairman of the association Deborah Lawson said too many students starting childcare training courses write using only the shorthand language of text messages.
And growing numbers of young staff in nurseries dress inappropriately, with long nails and “chunky” shoes, and discuss their social lives in front of children, she said.
The situation risks creating a generation of toddlers who will resemble the infamous character whose “Yeah-but, no-but” catchphrase helped make TV comedy Little Britain such a hit.
Young women today can’t win. They do the responsible thing, go out and get a job, and still they are criticised. I have no doubt that there are some childcare workers who come into work with a hangover, speak inappropriately and aren’t great at their job. But I have every confidence that if we started to value childcare as a career more highly, encourage continuing professional development and - crucially - raise the pay, then we’d end up with a better motivated, plain better workforce.
Young women today can’t win. They do the responsible thing, go out and get a job, and still they are criticised.
Of course they can win. The thing is, if you have three different traits that make you a completely worthless employee, you don’t win much by dropping one of them.
But I have every confidence that if we started to value childcare as a career more highly, encourage continuing professional development and - crucially - raise the pay, then we’d end up with a better motivated, plain better workforce.
Absolutely - the more money you offer, the larger your pool of applicants will be, so you have a better chance of hiring some decent people.
I wonder if we’re overlooking the economic reality here, though. Decent childcare requires one carer per small number of children. You have to pay enough for childcare to pay for the carer’s salary, the employer’s share of taxes on that salary, the rent of the premises and so on.
That means that the child’s parent has to earn enough for all that, plus enough to pay his/her taxes, travel costs, extra clothing costs and so on.
Maybe we sould realy be saying “If you want decent childcare, stay at home - it’ll be cheaper.”
The occupations on the census form are classified in a fashion which roughly corresponds to social class.
Guess which end of the scale nursery nurse and childminder are ?
BTW - the responsible thing is not to get a job if you have a young (pre-school) child, but to raise and socialise it. Back in the dark days before we were all enlightened it was done by a class of people called ‘mothers’.