Plenty of great nannies have no formal qualifications.\u00a0 Some parents take the view that the most important skills for a nanny are practical and emotional, and best garnered from experience.\u00a0 Others feel that a nanny's qualifications show that they are serious about their profession, and that by knowing about stages of child development they can better anticipate and support a child through them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Parents tend to pay most attention to a nannies qualifications during the selection process prior to the interview.\u00a0 This is particularly the case for families with more specialised needs. For example,\u00a0 a child with special educational needs or disabilities, maternity nursing for a newborn, or working with multiple children.\u00a0 All families will benefit from the nanny having up to date training on topics such as sleep needs, feeding frequency, or managing allergies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This blog will cover the minimum you should look for when it comes to nanny qualifications, and offer you some pointers for navigating the plethora of qualifications that could feature on a CV, including international equivalents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Childcare qualifications are predominantly guided by the Early Years Foundation Stages (EYFS).\u00a0 This sets the standards for the learning, development and care of children from birth to 5 years old.\u00a0 While nannies are unregulated, the training they opt for tends to be informed by the practices of Ofsted-registered early years providers.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are certain accredited qualifications that can count towards child: staff ratios in nurseries, and which are most likely to be on a par with the skills and knowledge a nanny needs.\u00a0 These qualifications focus on Early Years Education, Childcare, Playwork, and Children\u2019s Learning and Development, rather than Health and Social Care.\u00a0 There are also some relevant training courses that aren\u2019t independently accredited, such as Makaton\/baby signing and cooking for children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you\u2019d like to really understand the qualifications of an individual nanny, you can ask questions at interview like: \u00a0What content did it cover? How was the course taught (online, tutor groups, demonstrations, placements etc.)? How was learning assessed (multiple choice tests, written assignments, portfolios of evidence, observations etc.)?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nannies coming to interview\u00a0will typically bring a folder\u00a0which includes their original qualification certificates.\u00a0 It\u2019s well worth looking at these, because candidates are often lax about using the full and proper names of their qualifications on their CV.\u00a0 In some instances nannies will have attended training courses, but won\u2019t have paid the additional fee to take an exam or to be accredited.\u00a0 You\u2019ll have to decide for yourself whether you mind about this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One thing that all parents tend to agree on is the importance of paediatric first aid training.\u00a0 This should be renewed every three years.\u00a0 A good nanny should have done the 12 hour version which involves both theory and practice.\u00a0 This qualification is required for Ofsted registration, so if they\u2019re Ofsted-registered, they\u2019ve done it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ofsted registration isn\u2019t a qualification as such, but a box-ticking exercise to allow a nanny to be paid using childcare vouchers (which requires an Ofsted number).\u00a0 To become Ofsted registered, nannies need to show that they\u2019ve done four things:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are hundreds of relevant qualifications that a nanny to have, and it\u2019s not practical to list them all here.\u00a0 Instead, we\u2019ll outline a few rules of thumb to help you get your bearings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00a0<\/strong>Let\u2019s start with the two key dimensions to accredited qualifications: level and size.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes you\u2019ll come across international qualifications on CV.\u00a0 There\u2019s an official service that works out the equivalence of qualifications relative to the EYFS standards (NARIC Statement of Comparability for the Early Years Sector<\/a>), but it\u2019s expensive at \u00a3120 per qualification.\u00a0 Within Europe, a simple rule to follow is a European Qualification Framework (EQF) Level is one level higher than the UK equivalent i.e. Level 3 in France is a Level 2 in the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thankfully, most international nannies do at least one qualification here in the UK — so it\u2019s rare to be confronted with a CV of just overseas qualifications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
International equivalents<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n