My grandad said he doesn't know which is worse, working with so many children or working with so many women," says Richard Francis, deputy manager of Baby Bug nursery in Gowerton, near Swansea.
Francis is rare in the world of childcare, simply because he is a man. Only two per cent of people working in nurseries are men, according to figures from the Department for Children, Schools and Families in 2007. The government wants to increase the number of male childcarers but the figure has remained static for 10 years, and average pay in the early years workforce is only £6.80, barely a pound above minimum wage.
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