15 replies to this topic

[Vikkiking]

Hi all,

I am just starting my dissertation for BA Hons.
I have a strong interest in, the lack of men in childcare. I am interested to research what influences this?? I havent decided a question yet, i am trying to fish around the area first hopefully this will then help me decide upon a specific area.
If anyone on here has a view they would like to share or any info or reading materials which would help i would be very grateful.

Thanks in advance
Vikki

[Vikkiking]

I am very suprised by the amount of views this post has had but noone has commented. Surely everyone working in Early years has had some experience, or even their own views on the situation.
Please everyone i just want to gain some feedback from other Early years practitioners!!

Vikki

[Sue R]

Hi,

Just my experiences, I'm afraid....

I once worked in a large company that had men in some of the nurseries. Interestingly these staff members were not allowed to toilet children or change nappies, despite being fully vetted. This seemed completely tokenistic to me - if I were a man I wouldn't want to be so treated in my job.
I didn't stay with the company long, there were plenty of other issues that concerned me!

In my present company we had a young man for some time, who was great with the children and doing fairly well with his training - unfortunately I can't remember why he left, it was quite a while ago!

Sorry not much help,

Sue

[Vikkiking]

Sue,

Thanks for your reply. It amazes me how males can be treated so unfairly in early years settings considering like you say they go through exactly the same checks as women. Although hopefully now safeguarding policies have been updated and changed males are not excluded anymore like this, well not as far as i am concerned anyway! It is interesting as i have never worked with any males in Early years not through choice. it is just for the fact that we are a small nursery and no males have ever applied to fill the positions when they have become available. How did the parents and other staff members in your experience view males in Early years?
Thanks
Vikki

[Rea]

I've worked with a couple of men.
In the first nursery I was introduced to all the staff but when it came to the man the manager said 'this is P, the man we're lucky enough to have'. I felt it singled him out rather than accepted him. He sang really loudly or whistled whenever he was toileting a child too.
The second nursery I went to I noticed everyone would cuddle the children in the most ordinary and acceptable manner but when the man did it he was quick to move the child if a manager came within view. Rightly or wrongly, I always had the impression it wasn't allowed.

We have a male entertainer at christmas and no-one bothers about it, we have a guy come in to do an exercise class (Sporticus type thing) and no-one bothers at that either, yet both are in the business of entertaining young children.
We used to have a parent rota and when a dad came in the play was suddenly more physical, rolling around on the floor and the construction area was much better used.

I asked my lads (21 and 18) what they thought of men working with young children, both said its more for a woman to do.
I swear they were swapped at birth!

[Sue R]

Vikki,

To be fair, the parents at the first nursery weren't encouraged to talk to the staff (!!!!!) that was for the Manager to do !!! So I never really established how they felt.

In my present company, all the staff team at the time got along fine, and the parents all reacted perfectly normally to him. We would all be very happy to have a man (or more!) but, as in your experience, they just haven't applied for vacancies. We've had a few come for Trial Days to be taken on as trainees, but the one or two that were accepted didn't stay long.....if they took up the offer at all.

Sue

[Rachael1820]

My male cousin states that male entertainers such as the Wiggles are all paedophiles. Obviously with attitudes like that it isn't surprising that there aren't more men in childcare.
Could you centre the research around attitudes towards male carers or the way the male carers feel they are perceived (if you can find any!!)

[Sue R]

Actually, if you would like some input from a male carer, my friend's youngest son qualified Level 3 quite recently - if you have a questionnaire or something you develop, I am happy to see if he'll oblige. He's also about to become a Dad, and is very highly regarded as a practitioner by one of our Early Years team........ Any help?

Sue

[Vikkiking]

Thank you for all of your replies, there really arent that many guys out there are there. I thought i might find a few on here who would be able to share their own experiences. I am going to get some questionnaire together and then yes i would appreciate it if your friends son would mind completing one for me Sue, that would be great! Racheal thats the stance i have been looking at the attitude towards Males in Early years i think i am going to ask some parents and also female practitioners to complete questioners on their attitude towards Males and see where that takes me from there.

Thanks again for all your views, it really is helping!!!

Vikki

[Vikkiking]

Rea, on Oct 17 2011, 15:43, said:

I asked my lads (21 and 18) what they thought of men working with young children, both said its more for a woman to do.
I swear they were swapped at birth!

Hehe, Rea...
I do think that is the view of many younger guys at the minute, this is prob caused by their lack of education in Early years!!! I just hope they can work something out to try and begin to change these views. As it is such a shame, some guys are just naturals in involving children in activites which can usually be seen when around younger family members of friends.

Vikki

[Rea]

Have you seen this? I'd forgotten it was a whole forum dedicated to this very subject men in childcare

[vickymck]

Does this come back to money and status? or the balance between care and education in this country? There are more male teachers in secondary than in primary and less in early years. We do have a man in our setting who has QTS, so he ticks a lot of boxes and the children love having him around. I am sure he will be delighted to fill in your questionnaire as he has already tackled our local MP on the issue! Maybe you could could compare the percentage of men in childcare in our country to our European counterparts? maybe look at the differences around the world and the reasons for it - I would be realy interested in reading it!

[HappyMaz]

Maybe you could write to Sarah Teather and see what her views are...

[Rea]

HappyMaz, on Oct 17 2011, 22:13, said:

Maybe you could write to Sarah Teather and see what her views are...

Oh tut tut

[HappyMaz]

Rea, on Oct 17 2011, 23:09, said:

Oh tut tut

What?

I haven't seen any official figures for ages. It used to be that only 1% of the early years and childcare workers was male. Would be interesting to see what the latest audit has revealed, whenever that was.