Australia’s ruthless education system forcing parents to turn to ‘Mary Poppins’ governesses for help

Australia’s increasingly cutthroat schooling system is prompting families to hire governesses to help their children survive.

Exclusive: An increasingly competitive Australian education system is prompting a rise in the modern-day ‘Mary Poppins’ governess to help children ace their NAPLAN exams and give them an edge over other students.

Nannying agencies say there has been a surge in the number of parents seeking qualified nannies with degrees in childcare, education and even psychology to help children survive in an increasingly cutthroat schooling system.

Burnt out teachers are earning as much as $125,000 a year as governesses, using their skills and training in one-on-one education to support families, particularly in NAPLAN ‘season.’

Actor Dick Van Dyke with actress Julie Andrews and child actors in 1964 film Mary Poppins.

“We are finding it has become much more mainstream now,” said Scarlett Hyde, CEO of White Gloves Services International, which offers governesses with education qualifications ranging from childcare diplomas to teaching and psychology degrees.

Ms Hyde said she has seen a rise in the past five years of families seeking former teachers to act as governesses: “Previously families were happy with anyone qualified in early education but now over 80 per cent of clients are specifically asking for teachers.

“School systems are not bending to suit the individuality of children, if they work at a slower pace for example they don’t make allowances for that. An old-fashioned governess like Mary Poppins or Maria Von Trapp can put their full attention into one family and we are seeing phenomenal academic results, as well as better emotional resilience.

Parents are turning to modern-day Mary Poppins governesses to help their children.

“NAPLAN has become a big issue and we really see a dramatic spike around NAPLAN and HSC time in governesses to help with tutoring, schools put a lot of pressure on children to perform in that time and that is common feedback we get.”

President of the Australian Nanny Association, Lauren Brown, said they have also seen an increase in parents looking for qualified nannies to help with school work, and prepare for school.

“There is a much bigger focus on kids learning to count and read and write before they go to school. We are seeing members with teaching backgrounds being asked to teach kids rigorous early literacy programs before they start school,” she said.

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Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music. Picture: Supplied

Dr Christina Ho, Associate Professor at the University of Technology, said the shift in the Australian education system towards a more competitive environment is having a detrimental impact on students and families.

“The system is rewarding cutthroat, competitive, strategic behaviour. Plenty of families are making great sacrifices to make these investments in their kids’ education; this increasingly competitive, hierarchal system is adding pressure to students and it is what drives people to do things like tutoring or hiring a governess,” said Dr Ho, who is writing a book about Australian schooling.

“There are real social equity issues as not everyone is in a position to invest in these resources.”

Samantha Fraser has hired governess Aimee Lynch to help her seven-year-old daughter Josephine, who works at a slower pace when in the classroom.

“We want to make sure she is not left behind and with the competitive nature in the schools she already needs support but her teacher is struggling to give it with 25 other students in the class,” Ms Fraser said.

“She is already having anxiety when it comes to working at school but she is fine at home and we wanted someone with education qualifications so they could speak to her in her language.”

Governess Aimee Lynch with seven-year-olds Lucy Belle (left) and Josephine. Picture: AAP

Lynch said she left teaching to work as a governess in Queensland because it was more rewarding to see the benefits of teaching one-on-one.

“As a teacher now as much you want your focus to be on the kids that is not what is demanded of you. When you are a governess you get to take all the admin away and just do the teaching,” she said.

“It is really rewarding because you can see the success and the learning happens so much more freely and is more successful than you see in a classroom setting.”

The competitive education system is also taking its toll on teachers with one former teacher, Cara Hayes from Sydney telling News Corp Australia she left teaching to work as a governess because after four years she was “burnt out and stressed.”

“It is scary that I am one of those statistics of teachers walking away early – but I haven’t lost my passion for teaching.

“The workload and the increased administration side of teaching was taking up so much of my day and I had so much less time to focus on quality lessons. Now I get to do that, with their homework I can see very clearly what outcome they are working towards.

“Coming up to NAPLAN there was a lot of anxiety so we did practice papers. Obviously I have a knowledge of how it is marked I know what they are going to look for.”

Nikita Kilgour, 27, is a governess to a family in Sydney. Picture: David Swift.

Governess Nikita Kilgour, whose specialties are school readiness and teaching foreign language has worked all over the world including Russia, the UK and on yachts and says Australian schooling is not as competitive as Russia but that children are increasingly needing more one-on-one time with education professionals.

“It is important to have a helping hand in terms of education because it is getting harder and harder to scrape through,” said the bilingual governess, who currently looks after three children in Sydney.

Originally published as Australia’s ruthless education system forcing parents to turn to ‘Mary Poppins’ governesses for help