David Burns is a member of a tiny minority – a man working in the childcare industry. Sue Austin caught up with him at NuNu nursery in Shrewsbury.

David kneels down on the carpet in one of the rooms at NuNu nursery in Shrewsbury and a little boy runs up and flings his arms around him.

He returns the hug gently, as naturally as if the youngster were his own son, and starts chatting to him.

He then helps another boy to put his shoes on, deftly prevents an argument over a toy microphone and encourages a little girl to tidy away the toys she was playing with, before moving onto another activity.

The 26-year-old is not a dad, going to collect his children. He is in fact one of the nursery nurses.

David’s day can entail everything from changing nappies and feeding babies to helping three and four years old to begin to read and write, and kicking a ball around in the play area outside.

He is one of a tiny minority of male childcare workers in Britain – a job he says he loves.

Only two per cent of nursery age childcare workers are men, despite a survey that found the majority of working parents would like more of them to help look after their youngsters.

The survey, carried out by the Children’s Workforce Development Council, said parents wanted youngsters to have access to male role models.

Nursery provider, NuNu, which has 10 centres across Britain, has six male childcare workers including David who works at the nursery on the Shrewsbury Business Park.

He has been there for three years, following a female family member into the job, after training in catering then working in a supermarket for a year.

“I had always helped look after my little sister, Ellen, who is seven years younger than me and I always got on well with children,” David explains.

“I enjoy every day at work. At the moment I am with the two to three-year-olds who are learning to do so much. I help them with their numbers and their alphabet as well as general life skills.”

David also plays a keen role in monitoring the youngsters’ progress and putting up displays around the nursery.

So keen is he to make childcare his career he recently passed his level two NVQ in early years childcare and is now embarking on level three.

He thinks it is important to have male child care workers.

“Children should have male role models in their day-to-day lives. Too many nurseries are an all-female environment. Today, with so many single parent families, it is even more important than ever.”

Nursery manager Heather Davies says David is a real hit with the children, the parents and the other staff.

“Everyone loves David and last year he won trainee of the year, an award voted on by the staff and parents. The children adore him. Last week he was standing in for someone in the older class and the children, who he had worked with last year, were so excited to see him.

“We have other male workers at NuNu, including the cook and the caretaker. It is very important that the children see men in their everyday world.

“One unexpected bonus for NuNu has been the rapport David has struck up with the dads coming to pick their children up. They seem more at ease talking about who won the football with David.”

You would expect a man in David’s job to get some ribbing from his mates. But he says not at all.

“They say it is something they couldn’t do, dealing with so many children day after day. But they say well done for doing it.

“It is a great job and it is also preparing me for when I have my own children.”