Men In Early Childhood Education Research Articles

Men in Early Childhood Education: Their Emergent Issues.

Using a focus group approach, this study explored emergent issues for men in early childhood education. Preservice teachers, classroom teachers, and male professors identified 6 categories of issues including low salaries, family, and other influences on entering the field, teaching beyond the basics, improving preservice education, recruitment of males, and advantages and disadvantages of males in the field. Implications of the study focus on ways to create gender-fair classrooms.

Oppositional Discourses: Deconstructing Responses to Investigations of Male Early Childhood Educators

This reflective account begins with verses representing the multiplicity of frequently oppositional responses generated by the author's investigations of the perceptions, experiences and contributions of male early childhood educators. Discourses underpinning these responses are identified. They include (1) male as victim; (2) non-critical advocacy for an increased male presence in early childhood education; (3) critiques of interpretive research; (4) feminist perspectives; and (5) the ‘traditional’ early childhood stance. Each of these discourses is then briefly deconstructed to identify contested assumptions about the participation of men in the early childhood sector and to provide a meta-view of the key issues involved. It is argued that prevailing discourses ignore the voices of children and constrain conceptualisations of possible contributions by male early childhood educators. The article concludes with a call for more inclusive and more flexible discursive spaces in which to explore the potential implications of the involvement of men in early childhood education.

WHERE ARE THE MEN? THE SCARCITY OF MALES IN EARLY CHILDHOOD CLASSROOMS

This article examines issues surrounding the recruitment and employment of men in early childhood education, including special education, child care, and preschool through primary grade classrooms. Earlier research from the United States, Canada, and Australia concerning men in early education is reviewed. Issues discussed include the limitations of traditional gender roles, concerns of homosexuality, fear of sexual abuse accusations, salaries, and isolation. Initiating dialogue, identifying and remedying prejudices and practices that favor women, and activating support networks are among the activities suggested to increase the number of male teachers in early childhood classrooms.

Gender-Role Attitudes of Professional Female Educators toward Men in Early Childhood Education

A national random sample of women working in early childhood education was drawn from the membership of the National Association for the Education of Young Children to assess their attitudes toward the suitability, professional practice, and administrative capabilities of men in early childhood education. Past work experience with a male preschool teacher was a consistent indicator of a lack of stereotyped attitudes toward men in the early childhood field. Also, college professors and researchers were less stereotyped in their attitudes concerning the suitability of male preschool teachers than were either classroom teachers, other persons with direct child contact, or administrators. Implications for changing attitudes toward males in early childhood education are discussed in relation to these findings.

Professionals' attitudes towards men in early childhood education: A national study

A national sample of women and men working in early childhood education was drawn from the membership of the National Association for the Education of Young Children in order to assess their attitudes toward the suitability, professional practice, and administrative capabilities of men in early childhood education. Men and women were found to hold similar views toward the capabilities and roles of male preschool teachers across all these areas. The general lack of polarity of attitudes between men and women on many popularlyheld beliefs about men in the early childhood field is discussed in relation to previous alleged stereotyped attitudes toward male preschool teachers.