Can you picture yourself spending a wonderful time with children all-around whilst teaching them language and numbers through storytelling and counting games? Yes, it’s the job of a nursery worker who helps the children develop their body and mind in a safe and supportive environment.
A nursery worker usually cares for children until the age of seven and help them prepare for kindergarten. Engaging children in playful and educational activities to develop their knowledge and social skills, at the same time, attending to the children’s basic needs such as preparing snacks and meals and monitoring their safety are some common duties of a nursery worker.
And if you are an aspirant to become successful in this career, you must have a clear concept about all the opportunities, obstacles and requirements enclosing this sector.
Why should you aim for becoming a nursery worker?
To make a difference! Today’s children are no doubt the future of any nation. And as a nursery worker, teaching and helping the children with their early development, you can actually guide the nation’s future.
It’s not an easy job working as a nursery worker as it requires having responsibilities, creativity and leadership skills as well. Not to mention the extra hours a nursery worker may need to spend with the children.
But is it worth it to work as a nursery worker? Yes, and the answer lies in the great accomplishment you can have by impacting the children’s lives.
Implementing good qualities in children such as responsibility, honesty, self-reliance and empathy will build their personalities and ultimately shape the nation’s future in the long run.
Here are some reasons why you should pursue this career –
- If you love spending time with children and looking for a career full of fun and experiences then, this is the right job for you. You can teach children new and exciting things and make their days worthwhile while experiencing their transformation first-hand.
- This is a career where you can have diverse choices based on your qualifications and experiences.
- You can earn a comfortable income through this career by obtaining the right knowledge and skills.
- You can earn a comfortable amount through childcare by starting as a nursery worker or assistant.
- Furthermore, you’ll have flexible working hours when you can choose your work schedule based on your availability.
- You can also get paid holidays.
What challenges will you face if you choose to be a nursery worker?
Choosing to be a nursery worker can be a challenging career if you don’t know what obstacles lie ahead of you. However, if you have the passion and a positive mindset to work with these adorable children, then this career will definitely be a rewarding one.
- Kids are usually disorganized and disoriented. They like to mess things around. You can’t expect them to keep things in proper order all the time. So consequently, you have to keep order and be disciplined.
- Not having enough time to deal with personal issues. As a nursery worker, you may have to work overtime to handle kids with limited attention span. Moreover, working with special kids and keeping up with them can lengthen the hours considerably. It can also diminish your energetic potential.
- Kids can be very noisy sometimes and clutter things around. And you have to keep your calm to control and teach them how to behave.
- Children usually show temper tantrums when they are upset or frustrated. Accordingly, you have to keep up with their energy and unavoidable tantrums which is quite normal in a child’s development stage.
- As a nursery worker, you’ll have to talk to the children in a way that your words don't get too dumbed down. Because, if you oversimplify your words to make it more kid-friendly while talking to the children, they’ll lose the opportunity to pick up vocabulary and develop expressive communication skill.
Basic responsibilities of a nursery worker
Before you decide to pursue your career as a nursery worker, you must be well-informed about the duties and responsibilities that a nursery worker has to perform. Here are some common tasks a nursery worker has to complete on a typical day.
- Kids are usually disorganised and disoriented. They like to mess things around. You can’t expect them to keep things in proper order all the time. So consequently, you have to keep order and be disciplined.
- Engage children into fun and delightful activities to teach them basic social skills.
- Monitor children and keep a detailed record of information like temperament, food preferences, special accommodations etc.
- Most importantly, a nursery worker needs to establish a close and harmonious relationship with the kids in order to understand their feelings better and communicate well.
- Identify and record specific needs and interests of every child to develop a systematic curriculum based on those interests.
- The first five years of a child’s life is the most momentous period. It’s the best time to absorb language, even learning a second language. A nursery worker must have a clear notion about the children that they can’t understand big words. But that doesn’t mean that they should trivialize everything while talking to children rather they should make their words accessible to younger children.
- Make a log report of every child’s progress based on the specific insights into the child’s learning experiences.
- Track the development milestones and inform parents about the progress of their child. Meanwhile, provide the parents with the support they need to ensure their child’s development.
- Take the necessary information from the parents about their child’s learning process and behaviour at home.
Almost all nurseries follow protocols of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYES) to maintain the standard of curriculum and record-keeping policy.
Typical Day as a Nursery Worker
There’s no denying that you’ll have many challenging and exhausting days in this career. And be mindful of the notion that being a nursery worker doesn’t mean just coming into the nursery to play all-day with kids. There’s a lot of responsibility encompassing this career that you need to understand first.
Most privately run or community nurseries operate daily hours from about 8:30 in the morning till 6:00 in the evening. So, it’s quite a long day. There are lots of options and perhaps with different jobs that you can take as the hours that you work.
You’re generally going to be asked to be caring for the children on a daily basis and providing activities and stimulating learning for them and certainly within line with the earliest foundation stage.
Remember that, every child is unique in their own way. As a result, their varying personalities and behaviours require different methods of teaching since their learning stages are different as well.
People think this job is about just working with children. But it’s much more than that. You have to see the children progress and make sure that they’re doing what they love. And when children learn something new, and they come up to you, and they’re really happy, it’s lovely, and then you get to tell their parents at the end of the day, so it’s really rewarding.
Nursery Nurse Diploma Level 3
Nursery Nurse Diploma Level 3
Key Attributes a Nursery Worker must have
There are many skills that nursery workers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. And if you want to pursue the career of a nursery worker, you must possess some qualities to work with children. For example:
1. Patience
Don’t lose your temper while dealing with the children’s temper tantrum. Keep your cool and don’t snap at them. You must have patience while teaching them new things.
2. Sympathy
Be sympathetic while giving instructions to children. Persuasive language with a reassuring voice can foster some good qualities in children.
3. Good communication skills
A nursery worker must be able to communicate with children of different ages using the appropriate approach and new concepts.
4. Endurance
Children are energetic and a couple of hours with them can leave you breathless. And you need to have enough stamina to keep pace with them.
5. Sense of serenity.
Children are always sloppy and accidents happen. But a nursery worker must maintain a calm attitude in emergency situations to deal with it.
6. Adaptability
Every child has different needs but realizing their differences and adapting to their environment is a must skill to have for a nursery worker.
7. Discernment
A nursery worker should be able to respond to children’s needs whether it’s a routine activity or an emergency situation. Therefore, having good judgement and decision-making skills is essential.
8. Self-control
Children can be very annoying to contend with if you don’t have a great sense of self-control
9. Dedication
This is the foremost quality a nursery worker should have. Paying attention to the children and helping them develop good qualities requires continuous support. And to ensure that, a nursery worker must be committed to the job.
Developing these qualities will take you one step further to become successful in your career as a nursery worker.
Requirements for nursery worker
There are many options to be qualified for this job. If you have volunteering experiences in a nursing home or as a nanny, you can apply directly for this job too. However, it’s recommended to have a level 3 childcare qualification to become a nursery worker. There are also Child development courses available in schools or colleges which can be convenient.
Some nursery or childcare requires four/five GCSE grade Cs, including maths and English. You can also start this job by having an apprenticeship scheme. And you’ll need to have a check from Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) as well.
There are also some training opportunities available. Undergoing this training will help you keep yourself updated with the developments and practices needed to become a successful nursery worker.
Career Prospect
There are loads of options if you’re thinking of becoming a nursery worker.
In order to work as nursery assistant there aren’t any specific qualifications that you need but generally nurseries these days will look for you to have a level 2 qualification and if you look at any further education college in their childcare department, they will tell you about the courses that they offer in the local area that you’re looking at.
Perhaps over time once you’ve worked in the nursery assistant you may want to gain further qualifications and actually become a nursery nurse or nursery worker where you have a bit more responsibility.
To work as a nursery worker you must have a level 3 qualification and then from there, you may even become a nursery manager or even take the jump and become a nursery teacher.
So, there are lots of options available and to work as a nursery worker and hopefully, that’s given you a few clues as to the start of how to become a nursery worker.
Your wage as a nursery worker may vary depending on your qualifications, training and work setting. You can either get employed in a formal childcare nursery or you can work on a private facility based on your preferred hours to earn extra money as a part-time job.
Initially, the salary may not be high but if it doesn’t bother you and if you love working with children, you’ll be suitable for this career.
Nursery Nurse Diploma Level 3
Nursery Nurse Diploma Level 3
Closing Note
Working with children is all about passion, commitment and the love you have for them. You’ll need to exert yourself to become an efficient nursery worker and ultimately to succeed.
By pursuing this career, you can impact the lives of these adorable children to ensure a healthy next generation.
Hopefully, this has given you enough information for you to accept the challenges and dive in for the rewards awaiting you in this gratifying career.
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