Monday 22 August 2011

Men Working in Childcare

A common enquiry I get is for information about men working in childcare. Ironically, this morning's episode of Woman's Hour on Radio 4 had a feature about this topic - click here to listen to the programme (for the next 7 days anyway), the relevant section begins at about 28 minutes.

For further information on this topic, Heather Rolfe's 2005 report Men in Childcare is certainly worth a look - this was commissioned by the Equal Opportunities Commission. The issues surrounding the subject are also neatly summarised by a 2003 Daycare Trust leaflet entitled Men's Work? Changing the Gender Mix of the Childcare and Early Years Workforce, and by Claire Cameron's 2007 paper Men in the Nursery Revisited.

For further reading ideas, try the Men in Childcare website or Men in Childcare Ireland: Resources List.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the information David, this is the kind of thing I need to look at surrounding my Dissertation topic.

Mike Davis said...

Articles like this are really encouraging for us men, as well as challenging. When I worked in a nursery, the first couple months were quite tough. I didn't feel I was appreciated by some parents, because of the stigma attached to us. My managers encouraged me by letting me know I was just as capeable as my female peers and I was employed to do the same job as the females.

It was comforting, knowing that babies and young children trusted me. This led to their parents being happy with me key working their children.

I had great support from my peers and management and would applaud any men working in childcare. Our credibility will always be marred by those who continue to abuse their roles in childcare.

I had two wonderful years in the nursery, but have now persued my dream of working in a school. COME ON MEN, FLY THE FLAG!!

Mike