Abstract
This paper reports on a case study of male foundation phase pre-service students who were among the first cohort to specialise in the foundation phase since the inception of the programme at one South African university. The students reported on their experiences of teaching in a female-dominated field and their views about their preparedness to teach in the field. This qualitative study is interpretive in nature. Using purposive sampling, eighteen students were sampled from a population of twenty. Data was generated through focus group interviews and then analysed and categorised. The patterns across categories showed that the pre-service teachers had faced an unwelcoming environment in the schools at the outset, but that this changed over time. Some parents were negative about male teachers in the foundation phase. However, the pre-service teachers were able to work hard and show that they can work with foundation phase learners. The study concluded that male students who enter foundation phase teacher education programmes need a lot of encouragement to boost their self-confidence and to realise the important role they can play in working with young children in a country where many young learners grow up in fatherless homes.
Highlights
Men as teachers in the early gradesThe ‘Strengthening Foundation Phase Teacher Education’ project sought to strengthen foundation phase (FP) teacher education programmes in South Africa
Very few male teachers currently teach in the foundation phase in South Africa, largely due to persistent cultural and societal bias against men working with young children
The findings of this study demonstrate that there are great educational and social benefits to be gained by incorporating male teachers into the foundation phase
Summary
The ‘Strengthening Foundation Phase Teacher Education’ project sought to strengthen foundation phase (FP) teacher education programmes in South Africa. Petersen (2014) notes that the findings of Akman et al (2014) regarding parents’ views on the appointment of male teachers in Turkish preschools indicate that they are becoming less concerned about whether teachers are male or female, which means that there is likely to be an increasing number of male student teachers in foundation phase teacher education programmes in that country Based on their own research, Sobiraj et al (2011) and Sak et al (2012) conclude that the number of males in formerly female-dominated occupations is expected to rise in the future in countries such as Germany, the United States and Turkey. Conclusions were drawn from these displays in the tradition first promoted by Miles and Huberman (1994)
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