Men as Early Childhood Educators: Experiences and Perspectives of Two Male Prospective Teachers

Abstract

This study explored the experiences and perspectives of two male prospective teachers pursuing studies in early childhood care and education at the national university of Trinidad and Tobago. A descriptive case study design was employed, utilizing a qualitative semi-structured interviewing technique as a data collection method for this study. Data analysis consisted of examining, categorizing, and tabulating the evidence to address the main research question of the study. Five themes emerged from the study namely, factors influencing choice of career path; fears, challenges, and stereotypes; early childhood care as a low status job; strategies for attracting men into the early childhood profession; and benefits of male involvement in caring for young children. This study attempted to address a specific issue in a given context; therefore its findings cannot be generalized to the larger population. However, the study is important because it serves to introduce the conversation into a Trinidad and Tobago framework where in a population of approximately 1.2 million people, only few men are pursuing tertiary-level studies in a field dominated by women.

‘The unfinished business’: Exploring teachers' views on gender and pedagogical practices in public preschools in Nairobi county, Kenya

“…This confirms that ECE is a feminised profession as postulated by Plan International (2013), (Vendrell et al, 2014;Breneselovic and Krnjaja, 2016;Joseph and Wright, 2016). Studies have cited cultural aspects, stereotypes, lack of social prestige and low salaries as reasons for the shortage of male teachers in preschools (Abril et al, 2008).…”

“…Such gender stereotype continues to be accepted and sustained in domestic and cultural traditions (Trebješanin andJovanić, 2014 in Breneselovic andKrnjaja, 2016). Commenting further on the importance of using role models, as revealed by FT 7, Joseph and Wright (2016) reported that society needs to provide the boy child with role model to look up to, a strategy that can be used to attract minority group (men) into 'feminine' roles and professions, thus lead to the achievement of gender equality.…”

“…Gender stereotype is well developed and defined at the age when children are in preschools (Martin and Ruble, 2004;Daitsman, 2011). Preschool teachers should encourage boys to show interest in the so called 'feminised professions', for instance, teaching and nursing, since as Joseph and Wright (2016) noted, this is likely to bring positive change in careers usually dominated by females.…”

Percepciones de papá y mamá sobre maestros varones en la educación inicial peruana

“…Del mismo modo, en Nueva Zelanda la realidad no es diferente, ya que menos del 1% de los docentes de la primera infancia son hombres. Esto se debe a los prejuicios públicos generalizados de que las mujeres solo pueden cumplir los roles de cuidados, sirviendo como obstáculo para los hombres al contemplar carreras en la educación temprana (Joseph y Wright, 2016). En América Latina la situación es similar.…”

Male Educator Recruitment in Early Childhood Centres: Implications for Teacher Education

“…Historically, childcare in most homes has been seen as a woman's work, hence, the trend has spilt over to early childhood education making the female workforce to dominate. The long-standing perception from the society in those countries has been that women are more nurturing preventing men to equally participate in early childhood teaching profession [15]. Reviewing literature on early childhood teaching one finds scanty research on men as educators and in the studies that ventured into the subject mainly focus on the negative aspects of men's choice in this career.…”