Bloke hunting for early childhood education
Wed 16 Dec 2009What are the best strategies for boosting the number of male teachers?
Russell Ballantyne thinks it is time for some strong affirmative action to get more men into early childhood education (ECE), for the good of children and society. But the passionate teacher and the President of the group that advocates for more men in ECE, ecmenz, sees a huge imbalance between what parents and children want, and what the education sector is prepared to provide. 
“Parents want male teachers, and children need them - especially since more and more have few men actively involved in their lives. But there are still only a tiny number of men in ECE, and at the bureaucratic level there’s very little action to change that. Parents tell us clearly that they want their children taught by both men and women. They want a balanced environment. But the official position of the NZ Teachers Council appears to be that gender doesn’t matter. That doesn’t fit with the reality,” Ballantyne says.
| 2001 | 2008 | |
| No. of early childhood education teachers | 10,223 | 16,861 |
| % of men | 1.08% | 1.3% |
Ecmenz target: 10% in 10 years
Lack of NZ research on role of men
Unfortunately, the push to get more men into ECE is hampered by a lack of solid research reinforcing the importance of having a higher proportion of male teachers in ECE, says Ballantyne.
“Officials look for hard data rather than researching people’s attitudes.” Anecdotal evidence and ‘common sense’, however, show clearly that it is critically important to have men more involved in ECE, he says - for children, their parents and society as a whole. The Dunedin centre where he works employs 3 men and has a large outdoor area, and has parents queuing to send their pre-schoolers there precisely because they value what the male teachers provide for their children. “We have a huge amount of fun with the children. People who visit are struck by how much laughter there is.” Men tend to encourage lots of physical play and jokes, he says.
“Without getting into stereotyping, males and females are simply different, so the way we treat children is different. Male teachers are generally happy to let children take more risks - rough and tumble, sword fights, physical play - where women will try to end what they see as conflict and mediate. You need both - that’s why gender balance is so important in centres”, Ballantyne says.
Ballantyne thinks that targeted advertising is needed to recruit men, as the armed forces have done to recruit women.
“It’s a crying shame that men only realise what a great job ECE is late, after they have their own children, if at all”, Ballantyne says. “This is a wonderful job for men, and they have so much to contribute to ECE, but it is still seen as too unmanly and feminine to attract most blokes.”
Robin Christie, an ECE teacher who now builds environments for young children and delivers professional development in ECE, says, “I work with a talented group of men building playgrounds and children’s equipment. They love playing with the children, and the children love them - but none of these guys plan to go into ECE as a profession. Provide more job experience for young men and let them see what a great job this is”, he says.
While Ballantyne is in favour of an affirmative action programme where suitably qualified men could be chosen over equally qualified women to correct the sector’s gender imbalance, Christie is less comfortable with that idea.
“I think people should be chosen on ability. But the more men you’ve got to choose from, the better. In Scotland, they have an apprenticeship scheme for males in ECE. I’d like to see that here. ”
How Canada and Norway do it
In Canada, an ECE centre had great success in recruiting men onto its staff after it realised that men didn’t apply for ECE positions because they assumed the jobs were for women. Ron Blatz , Executive Director of Discovery Children’s Centre in Winnipeg placed an advertisement in the local paper saying: ‘Looking for a few good men with the courage to work in child care. Discovery Centre believes gender balance is good for young children. Interested? Call....’
He got 30 inquiries, and now employs 12 men out of staff of 42.
Blatz, who addressed the ecmenz conference earlier this year, thinks the keys to getting more men into ECE are to create male-friendly environments, with male mentors, and make active recruiting of men a goal.
“You have to write ads aimed at men, and place them where men will read them”, he said. He advised targeting men changing careers, and offering them work experience placements. His centre even provides incentives for staff who recruit men.
In Norway, 10% of ECE workers are men, an increase of 52% in 4 years. Their goal is to boost that to 20% of men in ECE by 2010. To help with that, the Government is planning to expand Norway’s Gender Equality Act to allow for affirmative action quotas in areas where men are under-represented, such as ECE. This would mean preferential treatment for men as long as they are as well or nearly as well qualified as the best female applicant. Norway already designs ads to attract men into ECE, and encourages men into the sector.