How can we attract men in early childhood education 

By Russell Ballantyne, teacher & part owner of Early Childhood on Stafford in Dunedin

Published in Iti Rearea on Nov 2006

Men in our workplace – how can we get them to join us in this vibrant ECE career?  Here are some thoughts that I’ve gathered over my 20 years in early childhood teaching.

Centre level

“Where are the men in our centres?” we ask. In fact, they are there right in front us - we just need to be better at helping them find us.

Our centres are full of men coming and going each day. We need to be active in targeting the ones who we think would be great teachers and sowing the seed.  The words “I think you would be a great teacher,” could well help shift their thinking about an area that they had not considered as an employment option.

We can also suggest ECE as a career option to friends and their children and ask schools what they are doing to promote early childhood as a career option for boys. More men in the service would in itself promote teaching as a career option.  One of our boys in our centre recently said “when I grow up to be an adult I will be a preschool teacher like you Russell”. Whether or not he will is irrelevant in my mind – the fact is he sees this as an option.  I question how many boys in our other centres see such an option?

Debate

Let’s also debate this issue at our centres with our staff and parents. We can highlight our concern over this gender imbalance and discuss how more high quality male teachers could enhance the workforce and provide a richer variety of experiences for centres to call upon. The message will soon get out that ECE is a place where a man’s contribution will be valued rather than his motives questioned.

We need centres to be real learning communities where debate on roles, gender bias, teaching styles, physicality of children, risk taking, and difference is encouraged.  We need to question can we actually fulfil the challenges of the Strands and Principles of Te Whariki with a workforce of women only? 

Debate is also important so that individuals can find their style – if we truly want diversity then we must allow for diverse teaching styles – we have to question the one truth message – that ‘this is the only way to do it’   approach.  Post modernism/multiple perspectives/multiple voices: this rhetoric has a consequence and it should be replicated in practice. 

In our centre we are allowed to spread our wings – we are encouraged to be who we are – (just as we do for our children) and therefore provide many styles for our children and families/whanau to choose from. This does create debate and discussion but isn’t that what a vibrant, growing workplace should do?  It shows that men can be men and bring to the centre a whole range of skills, beliefs and interests, just as women do.

We also need to cleanse our service of the hysteria around child abuse.   Sadly, we know both men and women in the wider community abuse children, and thankfully we also know that the likelihood of such abuse in a centre is very low. With centre policies and procedures being well defined and strictly adhered to, no children or staff should be at risk.  In our centre there is no question that male staff change children’s nappies – we are as trustworthy as any other staff member. I believe such confidence not only instils confidence in others but more importantly, negates bias.  

Let’s support all staff by being confident in their procedures and have the same expectations of both genders. Such confidence in all staff should help normalise important care routines and help ‘sense’ triumph over ‘hysteria’.  This, I believe, would help men feel much more secure within our workforce.

National level

Lastly we need to work with our key organisations including Te Tari Puna Ora o Aotearoa/NZ Childcare Association to position them with promotional material which has images of men working with young children.   The power of promotional messages must not be underestimated.  If you only portray the dominant gender in such recruitment messages, is it not surprising that you get what you ask for? 

The subliminal message to men is that they are not wanted – that this is not a place for them.  There need to be images of males successfully working in this sector. Acknowledgement from key organisations will allow males to be confident that there is a place for them in early childhood.

So do we want to make a difference?

Russell Ballantyne is a qualified teacher. He has worked as a head and senior teacher and general manager for the Kindergarten Association. He is now part owner of Early Childhood on Stafford in Dunedin.