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earlyyears.teachwire.net
By not doing more to recruit male practitioners,
we’re letting our children down and ignoring
what the public wants, says
David Wright
...
ing the doorbell of most
early years settings and
the chances are you will
be greeted by a woman,
whose colleagues will be
female – in most cases, exclusively. The
fact is that less than 2% of the early years
workforce in the UK is male, and it has
been that way for many years. So what?
Does it matter to society, to children, to
their carers, to my team and indeed to
my business? As a man who co-owns
and works in a small family-run group of
day nurseries, I’m not able to provide an
unbiased, objective or unequivocal answer.
But I can offer my opinions based on
experience and the evidence gained from
active engagement with this issue over
the last 12 years working directly with
children, parents and practitioners.
CHALLENGING
STEREOTYPES
Firstly, I think it’s helpful to consider some
of the issues affecting our culture. It’s very
easy for us to stereotype. We are, after
all, the product of our own individual
upbringing with all its social mores and
prejudices. In this context, gender often has
more to do with a set of preconceptions
than with biology. We have certain
expectations of men and women in terms
of their behaviours and roles. We associate
a set of notional characteristics (masculinity
and femininity) with each, deeming women
to be more nurturing and men as the
risk-takers. I often hear the term ‘male role
model’ used. It is a singular term, so what
does he look like? Is my male role model
the same as yours?
We receive confusing messages over
our role in the early years sector. Are
we caring for children, educating them,
or minding them as an expedient for
women to participate in the workforce and
contribute to tax revenues? I’m not sure our
government is clear about this. On the one
hand, the recent change in terminology to
We need
more men!
‘educators’ and ‘teachers’, coupled with the
drive to raise entry-level criteria, supports
a move towards professionalising what
we do. Does this provide an opportunity
to redefine roles away from the former,
arguably pejorative term of ‘childcarer’ with
its historical ‘hair or care’ connotations? At
the same time, the headline offer to parents
is still free childcare: we don’t care who
does it as long as they’re cheap!
It’s my contention that we’re engaged
in the most important job role, shaping
and developing the minds and character
of the next generation in their formative
years. Why wouldn’t we, as a society, want
the best women and men to do this?
Effectively excluding men from the early
years workforce is denying our children
the opportunity for the widest range of
experiences based on a spectrum of diverse
character types. We need the best people for
the job. As things stand, 50% of potential
candidates are currently unavailable to us. At
a time when we’re struggling to recruit, isn’t
R
Nearly 98% of
parents stated
they were
happy for men
to care for their
3–5-year-olds.
this an untapped resource?
Research indicates that public opinion
overwhelmingly supports men working in
early years. When polled, nearly 98% of
parents stated that they were happy for men
to care for their 3–5 year olds (Preschool
Learning Alliance survey, 2011). Similarly
female practitioners acknowledge the
difference a mixed-gender workforce makes.
THE STRUGGLE
TO RECRUIT
So why are men not rushing to join us?
Low pay and status are often cited, as well
as the challenges of joining a ‘woman’s
world’ with the associated isolation and
uncertainty over identity, and being the focus
for potential suspicion over motivation –
why
would any man want to work with young
children?
Over and above all of these, early
years is not on the careers radar for males.
It would be most unusual for a boy to
consider nursery work as a career ambition.
