Male Educators in Early Childhood?

It was 2014 when I boarded a flight to Australia from Dublin with dreams of exploring Australia’s coastline and meeting amazing people. After a few months of travelling, I decided to stay indefinitely – excited to build a new life and start afresh career. If you had told me I would end up working within the Early Childhood industry I would have looked at you in disbelief! However, my background in Business Development led me to an opportunity within Education Recruitment, and I soon began a career providing Educators to Childcare Centres across Victoria.

Four years on, I’m infinitely more committed, knowledgeable and passionate about Early Childhood and my role as a Consultant. It’s been incredibly rewarding to work with a variety of inspirational educators and build lasting relationships with a range of fantastic services.

One aspect that has been apparent over the years is the contrast in attitudes towards different genders within the profession. Early Childhood is a female dominated industry that can often project caution towards male educators and their place within the field.

I’m often asked: “Stevie how did you end up recruiting in Early Years?” Since I work in a sector where 95% of employees are females, this question never surprises me.

However, it’s encouraged me to look at things from a male educators’ perspective, and I’ve been curious to learn about different experiences and challenges that are regularly faced.

I got in touch with full-time employees, agency casuals, directors and teachers and received the following response:

Challenges:

“There will always be a parental suspicion of men”

“There is a lot of caution and looks, to begin with”

“Some families culturally refuse to accept men in this profession”

“The stereotypes males are branded with getting into this industry can be off-putting”

“9 out of 10 questions are about my gender”

“Questioning of affectionate relationships with the children”

Advantages

Despite the above, the feedback I consistently receive about male educators within the workplace is extremely strong.  Trends show that males tend to build positive relationships with children that offer a different dynamic and lead to a high level of personal development due to varied responses and reactions to learning activities.

“For children without positive male role models or absent fathers at home, a male influence can be very positive in their development and upbringing.”

Off the floor, male educators also offer a more diverse community and culture within the service and bring a new dynamic to the team environment.

Support

So how can we ensure our male educators are being fully supported?

• Actively promote male employees (on the website, staff pictures in the foyer)
• If questioned by a parent, confidently describe the benefits of having a male within the team
• Encourage interaction between male staff members and parents
• Introduce your male educators to families and staff, a handshake and a hello go a long way to put your families at ease

I was tentative about how I would write this blog, it may for some be a topic of controversy but It is something I feel slips through our fingers unnoticed and an area of development within the industry that could benefit from some focus.

We must work together to prevent the stigma that surrounds male educators within the industry, and ensure that all workers, regardless of gender, are treated fairly with equal reward and respect. The Early Years are critical to a child’s growth and development, and males who are passionate about education should be actively encouraged to become involved in the profession, particularly as there is such a demand and shortage of educators within Early Childhood.

The Early Years framework promotes “inclusion, equality, respect for diversity, accepting of difference”. In my opinion, if this is what programmes and teaching philosophies are planned around for our children, we must be seen to be practising this across all areas of our industry.

“Have you ever fallen into the trap of treating a male colleague as a man rather as a fellow educator?”

So, if you are a male (or female) educator and are proactively looking for work within the industry please don’t hesitate to contact me on stevie.m@anzuk.education about how you can make a difference within Early Childhood!

I would like to thank all of the services and educators that took the time to speak to me providing their opinions and feedback for this blog.