ABSTRACT

According to recent statistics, fewer than 3% of early childhood educators are self-identified men. Thus, at a time when young children are constructing their identities and exploring gender roles and boundaries, opportunities for them to engage in authentic and meaningful learning experiences with both male and female teachers are scarce. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate how self-identified male educators construct non-normative masculinities as they fulfill their roles with young children within early childhood education (ECE) environments. To achieve this objective, we draw upon the voices of men in the field to highlight their motivations and shed light on the challenges of their lived experience in the field of ECE. We use data from questionnaires, interviews, focus groups and classroom observations from a much larger research project that uncovered intrinsic and extrinsic factors influencing men’s decisions to join the ECE workforce. Overall, the men in our study view their involvement in ECE as an opportunity to support children’s social and emotional development as they also push back on stereotypes about men in this sector. Our findings have implications for national and international practices and policies that envision the recruitment, support and retention of men as a key strategy for building and normalizing a mixed gender workforce in ECE while also enhancing opportunities for young children and their families to engage in meaningful and positive gender experiences with both female and male educators.

摘要

根据最近的统计，只有不到 3% 的幼儿教育者是自我认同的男性。因此，在幼儿构建自己的身份并探索性别角色和界限的时候，他们与男女教师一起参与真实而有意义的学习体验的机会很少。本文的目的是展示自我认同的男性教育者如何在幼儿教育 (ECE) 环境中与幼儿一起履行其角色时构建非规范的男性气质。为了实现这一目标，我们利用该领域男性的声音来强调他们的动机，并阐明他们在 ECE 领域的生活经历所面临的挑战。我们使用来自问卷调查、访谈、来自一个更大的研究项目的焦点小组和课堂观察，该项目揭示了影响男性加入 ECE 劳动力的决定的内在和外在因素。总体而言，我们研究中的男性将他们参与 ECE 视为支持儿童社交和情感发展的机会，因为他们还推翻了该领域对男性的刻板印象。我们的研究结果对国家和国际实践和政策具有影响，这些实践和政策将男性的招聘、支持和留用视为在欧洲经委会建立和规范混合性别劳动力的关键战略，同时也增加了幼儿及其家庭参与有意义和与女性和男性教育者的积极性别体验。