I READ with interest the recent correspondence on the role of nursery nurses (TES, February 5) I am currently researching the specific professional characteristics of nursery nurses and hope to further establish clear role definitions for this generically applied training.
Often acute misunderstanding of the professional qualities and skills of a nursery nurse has led to perpetual misuse and undervaluing of these competent people in the classroom particularly.
I would hope to see a newly-qualified teacher in full understanding of the partnership involve in establishing sound, holistically tempered learning environments for our children. To view nursery nurses as ancillary is both insulting and inaccurate.
The extensive, full-time, two-year training provides nursery nurses with a somewhat unique range of caring and educating skills that, when given opportunities to apply, dovetail with the teachers’ expertise and provide some of the most fertile of working team partnerships, complementing and enhancing classroom learning.
Tina Jefferies. Early years lecturer. Stroud College, Gloucestershire
