Nanny

Professional childcare with a formal childcare qualification, with or without experience, in looking after children.

Primary responsibility: everyday care and welfare of children and nurturing them emotionally, physically and intellectually. As well as any domestic duties normally related to children, such as washing and ironing for the children, tidying the children's rooms and preparation of healthy and balanced meals. The usual working times are during office hours and work is unsupervised (sole charge). A nanny may live-in with the family or live-out.

Nannies can be employed full-time
(more than 30 hours per week) or
part-time (less than 30 hours per week) or
on a temporary basis working for up to 3 months.

 

Live-in or live-out

Live-in nannies must have their own bedroom and at least shared use of a bathroom. It is common to provide them with a TV/ radio, mobile phone, a VCR or DVD-player, the occasional use of a car and the provision of an extra telephone line are optional.

The live-in nanny's working day (11 hours maximum) is generally slightly longer than that of a live-out nanny. They are more flexible with their hours and usually they will offer a couple of nights babysitting per week. Work on weekends and babysitting must, however, be agreed upon by both parties beforehand. The live-in option is particularly convenient for those parents working long and / or irregular hours.

It is important to be aware of the fact that having a live-in nanny means you do share your private sphere outside of the nanny's working hours (and your own), and that there are higher household bills.

A live-out nanny will usually work up to 10 hours a day - generally not that flexible as the live-in nanny - and will expect a higher salary than the live-in option. Babysitting is arranged for an additional sum.

 

 

Maternity Nurse

Professional childcare who assists and supports mother and newborn baby in the first few weeks.

The maternity nurse looks after the post natal mother and the baby, advises the family on issues such as breastfeeding, weight gain patterns and supports with other siblings and getting the baby into sleep routines.

Some may be prepared to take on additional duties such as grocery shopping and food preparation, but this depends on each individual maternity nurse. We suggest families and maternity nurses negotiate any further chores directly and in advance. Working generally six days a week, 24 hours a day, most of the maternity nurses will live-in over a temporary period of 1-12 weeks.

Maternity Nurses are specialists in their field and therefore it is advisable to book them as early as possible.

 

Governess

Professional Educator with either a strong formal nanny or teaching qualification. Highly experienced.

A governess is in charge of planning the day to day activities, such as play dates, field trips, doctor and dental visits. Most importantly she will seek to further the cognitive and physical capacities of the children, will monitor the development of skills and manners of the children and will introduce appropriate professional education measures. She will also plan the children's diet and organize their wardrobe. The professional childcare provider will interact with other parents on behalf of the parents, too.

Furthermore the governess will see into the hiring of other childcare staff (as nannies, maternity nurses and au-pairs). Other childcares must report to her, she will only report to the parents and is therefore the manager of other domestic childcare staff. A governess has a major role in providing stability and may either live-in or live-out. Usually governesses are employed on a permanent basis - full-time or part-time - over a few years.

The work of a governess is different to that of an ordinary nanny in respect to the strong teaching  and pedagogy background of the governess. She will devote her time to be an observant, proactive, committed and skilled educator in early childhood and later years.

 

Teacher for preschools, kindergartens and nurseries

Qualified and experienced childcarer working in childcare institutions with children aged from birth to five. Here the children are looked after in a group setting and the teachers use mainly play activities to help children's social, personal, physical and emotional development. They are also responsible for developing children's language, literacy and numeracy skills and preparation for a successful transition to primary school education. This is live-out position, involving usually a full-time commitment. The attendence at parents evenings is regarded as compulsory.

 

Au-pair

Foreign childcarer between 17 and 25 years without any formal qualifications, working in a German speaking family for one year, looking after children in exchange for learning the German language.

Employing au-pairs involves facing a tight network of legal regulations. Au-pairs are live-in only with their own room and at least shared use of a bathroom. Childcare and household chores should not be more than 5 hours per day including babysitting. There should be at least 4 nights off per week and 1 full day off per week (it should be at least one Sunday per month).

The overall working week should not exceed 25-30 hours.

The family is obliged to grant time off for the au-pair to attend language classes and religious services, to visit cultural events. The au-pair must have four weeks paid holiday per annum.