'A million children growing up without fathers'

[SueFinanceManager]

Well did you see this news item yesterday

 

'A million children growing up without fathers'

 

I found this bit staggering;

 

'Men deserts'

There are 236 pockets of towns in England and Wales where more than 50% of households with dependent children are headed by a lone mother.

And an area in the Manor Castle ward of Sheffield tops the lone parent league table - among households with dependent children, 75% are headed by a lone parent.

CSJ director Christian Guy says: "For children growing up in some of the poorest parts of the country, men are rarely encountered in the home or in the classroom. This is an ignored form of deprivation that can have profoundly damaging consequences on social and mental development.

"There are 'men deserts' in many parts of our towns and cities and we urgently need to wake up to what is going wrong."

 

Well we need more men in education then simple as that but how

 

Salaries are low across the sector for all practitioners

[catma]

Equally as few men in Primary education, and most of those will be in the upper primary phases as being a specialist working mainly in the Early Years bit of primary schools can seriously hamper your career prospects if you want leadership roles or headships etc.

 

Cx

[SueFinanceManager]

Equally as few men in Primary education, and most of those will be in the upper primary phases as being a specialist working mainly in the Early Years bit of primary schools can seriously hamper your career prospects if you want leadership roles or headships etc.

 

Cx

 

You see that makes me cross that is you specialise in EY you could affect your chances of a headship in the future......surely to be a head teacher you should have experience of the whole primary school stages :angry:

 

They interviewed a chap who taught reception in a school yesterday and he was fantastic and I am sure those little boys in his class are doing brilliantly.

[catma]

Yes you would need to have experience across all key stages, so the 1 year in reception gets you that, but to really progress you need to have had systematic whole school leadership experience which you realistically don't get whilst being solely a specialist in the EYFS. How many advertised AHT posts require EYFS leadership as a specialism vs those that require whole school NC subject leadership for instance.

 

I can count on one hand the number of AHTs/DHTs working in the EYFS in my LA alone! And they're all women.

cx

Edited June 11, 2013 by catma

[Guest]

It is clear that early years care as a whole is in need of a decent representation of positive male role models.

 

But how can we bring more men into the profession?

 

Many will argue that the pay scale of the sector deters both graduates and men, however, early years practitioners will tell you that working within early years, is not about the money.

 

In my opinion it is the stigmatisation of men working in early years and low status that the career carries that prevents people looking into a career in early years.

 

 

 

We need a rebranding of not just men, but of early years practitioners.

[SueFinanceManager]

We need a rebranding of not just men, but of early years practitioners.

 

Well said Patrick

 

Thanks for your input Catma....really interesting to hear and deeply depressing at the same time

[catma]

I remember being asked by parents when I moved from the reception class (in the main school building) to the nursery (across the playground) if I was still going to be the DHT!! Having a senior role in the school, yet work with the youngest children was not seen as being compatible!

Cx

[sunnyday]

All thoroughly depressing.........

 

I could talk for hours on this subject (but you'll be relieved to hear that I'm not going to!)

 

I was thinking about just how lucky my granddaughters are - both currently being taught by men at Primary school + daddy at home + two completely devoted granddads for them to 'twist round their little fingers' :1b + a fabulous and close relationship with their uncle and their fourteen year old male cousin.........yes, lucky girls indeed! :1b

 

in contrast - how incredibly sad for those children without these male influences in their lives

 

is it 'always' the 'dads' at 'fault' here - I'm not so sure that it is - some women can make it very difficult for men to continue to have 'meaningful relationships' with their children following the breakdown of a relationship......

 

OK ready............. take aim and......... fire! I can take it

[flowlow]

Another point in our pre-school we had one slightly older male student and I had a line as long as your arm of parents who wanted to complain considering that it was suspicious that a male that alone a male of his age should want to work in pre-school. I was furious!!!! :angry:

 

Especially as when I first took my children to the pre-school and then started work there we had a male member of staff who was amazing - he left as the pay was not good enough and he needed more money and more hours than he could get at the setting. the student I had in the end left as we had no job to offer him

[Rea]

I won't be firing at you sunnyday

Some women make it incredibly difficult fir dads to be part of their childrens lives, they're used as weapons, leverage and bribes.

The fact that so many children grow up without a father or any man in their lives is awful but it made me think of my dad and his 2 brothers who were 3-8 years old when their dad was killed in WW2. There were millions of children affected then and no doubt suffered more deprivation than todays children but my dad and most of his contempories grew up to be hard working individuals who had families and homes of their own. I don't think all of todays ills can be blamed on absent fathers, whatever the reason for that absence.

I don't know what the cause is, possibly a mix of lack of responsibility bought about by too much nannying by the state and lower expectations of our young.

Now I've gone and sounded like my nan!

Edited June 11, 2013 by Rea

[sunnyday]

made me think of my dad and his 2 brothers who were 3-8 years old when their dad was killed in WW2. There were millions of children affected then and no doubt suffered suffers deprivation than todays children but my dad and most of his contempories grew up to be hard working individuals who had families and homes of their own. I don't think all of todays ills can be blamed on absent fathers, whatever the reason for that absence.

 

 

What a fantastic point Rea - that's something I have never really thought about before..........and believe me I have spent a lot of time thinking about these issues :blink: :1b it didn't take this recent piece to make me ponder on this subject.......

 

P.S. I'm glad that you are not going to 'shoot me' :rolleyes:

 

I don't have the answers - not sure anyone does.........definitely more men in Early Years + Primary........some 'better' education at secondary level for both girls and boys with regard to the responsibilities that parenthood brings - (I am not judgemental at all in this respect - I was a very young mum myself!)..........

[Cait]

My son worked with me at preschool whilst waiting to start uni, and for the first summer break when he was at uni, as they finished for the summer before we do, and go back later in the autumn. He's very tall, and we were anxious that he would be overwhelming but in fact it wasn't a problem. The children adored him, and would squeal excitedly when they saw he was there, particularly the little girl with ASD. One mum was worried her child would be upset, as she didnt meet many men, but she was great with him. He did things with them that we hadn't considered, like building a funicular railway up the slide with the Duplo. It used to be his Duplo so he thoroughly enjoyed playing with it, and his enthusiasm rubbed off! It would have been nice to have kept him, but he's gone on to do incredible things in his field.

[lashes2508]

ok here goes - we have a male practitioner working with us how lucky are we

our village primary has 2 male teachers, my son was fortunate to have a male teacher in his last year and wow it was great and made a real difference but that was also because he is a fab teacher who has now taken the headship but stills teaches as much as possible.

 

and lastly - both my children have different fathers and I did all i could to maintain a secure, loving and involved relationship for them with their fathers.

my daughter of 18 sees her dad regularly , sailed the med for a year with him at 8 yrs old and still continues to have a fab relationship with him , seeing him as much as poss.

my son too has always seen his dad regularly in the week and weekends , holidays etc and is currently living with him .

 

Many dads do not get that opportunity sadly and yet many of them could offer possibly a more secure environment for their children, sadly i know and have known too many mothers willing to put their own feelings in the way of those of their children and their dads.

[Rea]

Sailed for a year?!! What a wonderful experience and what wonderful parents

[lashes2508]

I know Rea - many people said 'How can you let her go ' - my reply ' how can I NOT let her go' - a wonderful experience for her and her dad and step mum and the school fully supported it - as they said ' she will learn much more than here at school' , don't get me wrong it was difficult but i just reminded my self it was an experience I could not give her and one i could not deny her or her father .