World News

International Conference "Men in Early Childhood Education and Care" in Berlin, Germany

Bryan G Nelson — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0600

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The International Conference "Men in Early Childhood Education and Care" on the 27th and 28th of September 2012 in Berlin, Germany.

The Coordination Centre "Men in early childhood education" and the Faculty of Primary Education of the Humboldt University Berlin invites you to attend the international conference "Men in Early Childhood Education and Care: Strategies, experiences and perspectives”. The conference will be held on September 27/28th 2012 in Berlin and will be supported by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth.

Within the focus of this international event are among others presentations from Germany, Norway and Switzerland about the latest developments and research findings in the field of "Men in early childhood education" as well as the national and international exchange of experiences in this field. We are expecting about 350 participants including 35 international experts.

Bryan G. Nelson, from MenTeach, will be presenting at this conference. We hope you'll be able to join us!

Check out their website (in English)

New Zealand - Men in Early Childhood Education Annual Summit 2012

Bryan G Nelson — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 09:35:47 -0600

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The Annual National Gathering for men who work or study in Early Childhood Education.

Saturday 17th -Sunday 18th March 2012

Top Ten Motor Camp, Whanganui
Phone & Fax: 06 343 8402
Free Phone: 0800 272 664

If you know a man interested in, or thinking of working in ECE encourage him to attend.

We also welcome supportive women as well as ECE recruiters, employers and trainers.
Special emphasis this year on Pasifica activities and culture.

Registration Fee:
Students $75.00
EC-MENz Members $100.00
Non-members: $125.00

For queries regarding the registration form, contact davidbax(at) paradise.net.nz
All other registration queries to Michael Inch - <marianna(at)paradiseforangels.co.nz>

our theme this year will be:

'Pasifika Pride'

Friday Night

Early Registration, campfire and singalong at Born and Raised Pasifika ECC

Saturday from 9am

Powhiri Cook Islands Style

Official welcome from Whanganui Mayor and Tangata Whenua

Workshops focusing on crafts from Samoa, Fiji, and the Cook Islands, also the value of vehicle play

Keynote presentation from experienced ECE teacher Peter Visser of Far North REAP

More hands-on workshops including rope skills, massage for babies, and ukulele

Short AGM to finish by 4:30

Saturday Night from 7:30

Island feast at Whanganui Racecourse, with entertainment and a guest presenter speaking about the Pasifika Education Plan

Sunday Morning from 9am
Short Pasifika Church service for those wishing to attend

Brunch
A chance to hear stories from our colleagues across the country, and share your own! Adam Buckingham will start us off with feedback from the Global Men in ECE gathering in Hawaii

12:30 Sunday
Summit closing, time to go home with plenty of new ideas and new friends

Demand for male early childhood teachers cannot be met

Bryan G Nelson — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0600

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While an increasing number of New Zealand families would like men to be teaching their under fives, the men are not there to be employed, says an early childhood organisation that represents 1100 centres nationwide.

Chief Executive of the Early Childhood Council, Peter Reynolds said today that early childhood centres would employ many more male teachers if such teachers existed. And he called for teacher trainers 'to get more active in the promotion of our sector to men'.

The absence of men from early childhood centres robbed from families the right to choose male teachers, Mr Reynolds said. But it could not be remedied by early childhood centres on their own, 'because you cannot employ male teachers who do not exist'.

Early childhood teaching was one of the most gender-segregated professions in New Zealand, Mr Reynolds said, with fewer than two per cent of teachers being men.

'Such segregation would not be tolerated in law or medicine. And it is unacceptable in a sector with the fundamentally important job of helping ensure our youngest of children arrive at school ready to learn'.

Even a small increase in numbers of male teachers would benefit thousands of children and families, Mr Reynolds said.

'It would, for example, impact the many children who lack a reliable male figure in their lives, and especially those who have little but bad experiences of men.'

The absence of men from both primary and early childhood education had seen thousand of such children effectively quarantined from all but the most destructive of males, Mr Reynolds said. And the results had been 'disastrous'.

An increase in numbers of male teachers had been achieved in countries such as Scotland, Norway and Denmark and it could be achieved in New Zealand 'if we summoned the commitment'.

Such change would provide valuable encounters with safe men for women and children whose experiences of men had been anything but safe, he said. It would benefit boys who were more responsive to 'male' interactions. And it would help teach boys that nurturing was part of the male job description.

Mr Reynolds said 'the paedophile hysteria' of the 1990s had caused many good men to disengage from caring for children.

'But the worst of that nonsense is over, and there is now a renewed desire from both families and centres for there to be many more men working in the early childhood sector.'

The Early Childhood Council is the largest representative body of licensed early childhood centres in New Zealand. Its 1100 member centres are both community-owned and commercially owned, employ more than 7000 staff, and care for more than 50,000 children.

January 31, 2012

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Blokes-in-kindy challenge

Bryan G Nelson — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 11:28:54 -0600

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by Simon Wong - The Marlborough Express

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Marlborough's only male kindergarten teacher is encouraging other men to "throw the stigma out the window" and join the profession.

Michael Clark, the head teacher at Springlands Kindergarten, said he wanted men to forget about what people might think about them being in early childhood education.

"If it's something you really want to do and something you're keen on, get off your rear and go do it."

Male kindergarten teachers make up only 1.7 per cent of the country's teachers.

Mr Clark is the only male kindergarten teacher in the region, although there is another male teacher working at a play centre.

He said he was more rough and tumble, more forgiving and also louder than his female counterparts.

Mr Clark started at Springlands Kindergarten in term 2 last year and before that was a teacher at Renwick Kindergarten for two years.

Children needed more males as role models in their early education to show them they could choose careers that did not necessarily fit their gender, he said.

Male teachers also brought a different perspective to the table, he said.

"There's a lot of talk about how boys learn and how best to teach boys because, in a profession dominated by women, they don't understand how boys work."

Some people were a bit wary about men working with children at first, he said.

"Historically there have been times where there've been anti-man sentiments when working with kids."

Clark first trained as a primary school teacher before later training as a kindergarten teacher at Massey University.

During that time he was required to do placements at different kindergartens.

"Sometimes you'd turn up for a four-week placement and at the start you'd get that `Ah, yeah, oh, a guy – right'."

Once teachers and parents knew he was married and had young children of his own, they became more comfortable with him as a kindergarten teacher, he said.

Becoming a kindergarten teacher needed to be seen as a viable career option for male school-leavers, he said.

Men needed to have the self-confidence and resilience to "buck the trend" and become kindergarten teachers if they wanted to.

January 24, 2012

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More male teachers are needed in Victorian schools to help boys perform better, a new teacher survey shows

Bryan G Nelson — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 09:48:27 -0600

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by Samantha Maiden - Sunday Herald Sun

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The survey shows teachers believe little is being done to address the performance gap between girls and boys.

The Sunday Herald Sun can reveal the findings of the latest Staff in Australia Schools survey, which asked more than 15,000 teachers and principals about their working conditions.

The report found fewer than one in five primary school teachers is male, with the number of female teachers rising in the 2010 survey to 81 per cent.

But men are far more likely to rise through the ranks to become principals in high schools, holding 61 per cent of leadership positions.

The survey also showed principals want more power to sack underperforming teachers, with a majority saying they feel hamstrung.

While private school principals have revealed much higher levels of authority to review teachers' performance and recruit staff, public school principals warn they are lagging behind.

Concerns over a lack of power to hire and fire teachers was highest among principals at public high schools, where 54 per cent were unhappy with the rules.

Releasing the report today, federal Education Minister Peter Garrett said the findings underlined the Government's push to boost principals' and parents' power to run schools.

January 14, 2012

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Male teacher 'only planned a small stint'

Bryan G Nelson — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 09:21:43 -0600

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by Amanda Durry - Ashburton Guardian

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Peter Harper moved to Methven with the intention of only staying a couple of years. Now, 31 years later, he's ended his career at Mount Hutt College and finds himself in a strange place - the job market. His departure isn't retirement; it's just a change of scenery. Mr Harper came from a teaching family - his mother taught English, his father taught mathematics. So naturally when it came time for him to leave school, he didn't consider too many options. He went to teachers college and spent his first four years of teaching on the West Coast. He admits he didn't even know where Methven was before coming to the small town but said he and his family fell in love with the place.

"It's a great place to live and it's a lifestyle you just can't swap so we won't be leaving town - why would we? I haven't retired at all but after 31 years of doing the same thing, there comes a time when you want to do something different."

"I've got a lot of other interests like golf, fishing and reading but the next step is finding another job, part-time would be good," he said.

He leaves the college as the head of English, a role which he started 20-odd years ago. He originally started out by teaching geography, history and English and said he seemed to relate well to teenagers. "I was never going to teach a younger group but teenagers are just so spontaneous, outgoing and funny in their own way. "Students certainly haven't changed much over 31 years and I will miss my students - they're a big part of the game. "I won't miss the endless pile of paperwork when the only thing that is important in classrooms are good teachers and that will never change. The paperwork is only ever as good as the person doing it so the rest is totally material," he said.

During his time as a teacher, boys' education has been a passion for Mr Harper and he doesn't think schools do enough for them. "There is an increasing disengagement of boys happening and that is a huge challenge for schools. "There also aren't enough male role models in schools, particularly in English. "There isn't any easy answer but it's time boys' education was looked at to see what we can do better for them," he said.

With technology also advancing, it was the giant elephant in the room.

"The biggest question is how we make it educationally useful because it's got to be valuable in terms of learning," he said. Extra curricular activities have been a highlight throughout his time at the school. He did 18 years with the school rugby team, 12 years of productions, took cricket for years and even dabbled in some golf coaching. "All those things were really good. There was a lot of work involved but a good return so I got obsessed with those sorts of things. "It was a passion of mine and I'll take away some great memories from those experiences," he said. He knows he will not fully escape the school, as he doesn't intend to leave the area. "I'm sure I'll see students or staff all the time in the community," he said.

In the meantime, before he finds a job, his daughter has promised him a gig looking after his three grandchildren who live locally. With another child and grandchild in Napier, travel will also be on the cards. Despite his teaching career, he has managed to backpack through Asia for a year, spent nine months in Britain and Europe, among other minor travels. "There will still be plenty of things to keep me occupied," he said.

December 30 2011

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A man in a female dominated profession in Vietnam

Bryan G Nelson — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0600

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Tuoi Tre News

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Tran Do Hoang Anh has been teaching preschool kids at Vanh Khuyen Kindergarten in Thu Duc District, HCMC for the last 7 years.

Tran Do Hoang Anh changes the common perception that only women can be preschool teachers.

Hoang Anh, who has been teaching preschool kids at Vanh Khuyen Kindergarten in Thu Duc District, HCMC for the last 7 years, is indeed a rare case.

In Vietnam, almost all preschool teachers are women.

As the only male teacher at Vanh Khuyen, Anh proves that in no way can a man be outdone by women when it comes to looking after kids. There is nothing he can't do, be it cleaning, sweeping or singing lullabies.

"I always address myself as father to make my classes more like a family for the kids," Hoang Anh said. "I just love children very much."

It is this love that urged him to enrol in a preschool education junior college despite his family's fierce disapproval.

Anh was first recruited by a preschool in Tan Binh District after graduation, but had to leave it shortly afterwards since as he said, "few parents want a man to teach their kids."

He was then accepted by Vanh Khuyen after showing his determination and love for the profession.

"I'm probably not as sweet and meticulous as a woman, but I have the same expertise and loving heart," Hoang Anh said.

Tran Do Hoang Anh has recently won an award of excellence presented by the HCMC chapter of the Ho Chi Minh Youth Union.

This is a reward for his initiative to help kids pronounce words better and make preschool more fun for them. Hoang Anh won the award also for his enthusiastic participation in extra-curricular activities.

December 18, 2011

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Attracting More Men to Child Care - How to...and why you should

Bryan G Nelson — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0600

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by CareforKids.com.au

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It's a well known fact: the vast majority of people working in child care are females. Figures from the ABS show that at least 95 per cent of the working population of child care workers are female.

Attracting men to the industry is difficult and complicated: there are issues surrounding parental suspicion of men and the idea that child care is 'women's work', the low pay and status of child care workers have also been identified as a deterrent.

However, for an industry facing severe staff shortages and high demand it seems unsustainable to only source employees from 50 per cent of the population.

For men to be successfully integrated into the child care workforce the industry needs to recognise the unique skills that men bring to child care work and not expect men to provide care in exactly the same way as their female counterparts.

One child care centre in NSW defies all the statistics and currently has five male child care workers in a team of 16. We spoke to this group of dedicated young men to find out what attracted them to child care and why they stick with it, despite the odds.
We also spoke to Centre Owner/Director Nesha O'Neil to find out how and why she has been so successful in recruiting and retaining her male employees.

Tom Isaacs (24), Benjamin Vengoa (21), Matthew Hochstetter (25), Bryn Williams (35) and Shaun Vengoa (20) all work at the Top Ryde Early Learning centre in NSW a centre responsible for 59 children each day.

Centre Owner/Director Nesha O'Neil says she values the input of male teachers and has actively sought to have at least one male staff member at all times.

"The idea that we wanted more men, led to us employing them. It also helps having a male on the team already so that new male staff feel more comfortable, and get the hang of it all easier," she said.

Matthew Hochstetter has a background developing sports program for schools and holds a Diploma in Business Management a Diploma in Sports Management and is currently working towards a Bachelor's Degree in Education.

He says he was attracted to child care due to his interest in working with children and sports:

"Child care gave me the opportunity to work on developing children's skills through sports as well as providing children with a positive male role model," he said.

Tom Isaac's has always worked with kids and was a youth worker before he moved into child care:

"I've always been good with children and enjoyed my interactions with them. I thought that child care would be rewarding and fun," he said.

Brothers Ben and Shaun Vengoa have strong sporting backgrounds and are both professional football players. Ben says he was drawn to child care because he loves kids and is a father-to-be while Shaun says he joined the centre because he is passionate about sport and wants to share his knowledge with children.

Obstacles
The guys identified suspicion as one of the main obstacles for men wanting to join the child care sector:

"I was warned a number of times that people would give me funny looks" said Tom.

"The unfortunate stereotypes that you are branded with when joining the child care industry are pretty off-putting" said Matthew.

Centre Director Nesha O'Neil is well aware of the prejudices some people have towards men in child care and proactively addresses the topic when parents first visit the centre.

"We actively promote the employment of men at the centre by putting them on our website, and in staff photos in the foyer.

We've had a few parents on tours who have seen the photos and said 'oh, a male staff member' and we've confidently said 'yes, is that a problem?' then described the many benefits of having a male on the team."

Nesha says the best way of tackling these prejudices is to have strict operational policies and procedures.

"Having been in child care for many years, we are aware of the risks of employing men due to the suspicion that some parents have, however, we have policies and procedures that keep all of our staff safe for example, always stay in eye-sight of another staff member.

We've also made a decision that unless absolutely necessary, the guys won't change nappies. Our female staff were more than happy to swap for less mopping/ sweeping!

The other way to manage parent issues is to get the guys talking to parents as quickly as possible: don't hide them away - having a staff member walk confidently up to a parent and say 'Hi I'm Matt' and shake their hand is the quickest way to put parents at ease with any staff member - including men," said Nesha.

Advantages
As previously mentioned men bring different styles to child care and there are many advantages for both children and other staff members of running a staff with both genders represented.

For children without positive male role models at home having exposure to men like Matthew, Ben, Shaun and Tom is vital.

Matthew says the personal advantages of working in child care are that it has made him a more emotional man and a much more patient father but he says men contribute a lot to the sector

"Men add a different feel to the industry, Children are provided with different dynamics which I believe help in their personal development," he said.

According to Ben, men also offer a different perspective on activities:

"Male carers can become 'father figures' and the children look up to them. They also get different reactions, responses and actions from the kids than female teachers even when doing the same activities or projects."

Nesha says her male team members offer many advantages and give the centre a unique point of difference:

"The guys have a different perspective on the activities provided within our program. These boys are very fit and active, so lots of what we do incorporates an active component, for example we're more likely to teach social skills through team sports now, whereas in the past with a team of women, we were more likely to teach social skills through role-play. This centre has a greater proportion of boys enrolled so this 'active' aspect to the program is a great benefit.

We also find that behaviour management is easier with our young boys, as the male staff members are able to role model for them and the boys identify easier with this.

In addition, the men have a great 'halo' effect; not only do the young boys see them as positive role models, but they see others viewing them as positive role models so the men end up with a 'halo' or 'aura' around them.

We've also had amazing results with some of our special needs children. In the past we've had female staff members with a string of academic post-grad qualifications attempt to implement a positive behaviour modification program, whereas the male staff members come in with that 'halo' effect, and in one session are able to achieve things with our special needs kids that we have been struggling with for months.

In addition, the males are able to relate to the fathers at the centre in a way that our female staff sometimes couldn't.

They also have a great impact on the staff team dynamic - let's face it, in an all female working environment, we can sometimes take a 'school yard' approach to dealing with issues. The guys sit outside' of that dynamic, which diffuses a lot of those issues," said Nesha.

Attracting men to child care
All the guys at Top Ryde say child care is a fulfilling job which offers males rich professional rewards.
"If you're looking for a career child care is the most rewarding job you could have, knowing how much you have affected a kid's life means a lot and seeing how much they look up to you and respect you is amazing," says Shaun Vengoa.

According to Nesha child care services wanting to employ more men need to look at the work environment and think about how to make it more attractive and interesting to men.

Shaun agrees with that sentiment and suggests that child care centres might have more luck attracting men if they highlighted some of the more physical aspects of a child care job, by using titles such as sports coordinator.

Nesha says it's important to gain the support of your whole team when looking to recruit more men as making the service an attractive place for men to work may require some changes.

"Years ago I worked for a company who were looking to recruit women into a mostly male workforce. It was really hard for the women, because once recruited, they'd go out onsite to find themselves in a really 'blokey' environment (pictures of semi naked women in the bathrooms etc).

I think that it's easy for us in a mostly female environment to forget how alien it might be for men to walk into. It's worth having someone's partner walk through the place to see if they feel uncomfortable by the way it might be set up (e.g how many Twilight pictures are up on your walls?).

It's also worth remembering that men tend to talk less about issues but that doesn't mean that they don't have issues and when things do come up men tend to want short sharp, effective solutions - not hours of debate.

You also need to actively decide that it's what you REALLY want, that you're prepared to change the way that you do some things, that you are prepared to have those difficult conversations with parents (no, they're not all gay...and would it matter if they were?), and be prepared to work through the issues that arise in order to reap the rewards.

Then, share that decision as a team, talk about it, and once staff are committed to it, work towards it, for example by placing job ads which say 'men are strongly encouraged to apply for this role'

Are you a man working in child care? If so go to CareforKids Social to tell us how you think the industry needs to change to attract more males.

September, 2010

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58% rise in Welsh male graduates opting for teaching

Bryan G Nelson — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0600

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by BBC

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Wales has three times as many women teachers as their male counterparts and the gap is growing, says the General Teaching Council for Wales (GTCW).

The GTCW said the situation was worse at primary level where women teachers outnumber men by more than five-to-one.

Women now make up 55% of headteachers in Wales, but mainly in the primary sector, and are still under-represented in the secondary sector, the GTCW said.

However, there has been a rise in Welsh male graduates opting for teaching.

The latest GTCW figures show the gap between male and female teacher numbers in Wales has been growing each year for the past four years.

Only 22% of those who achieved the teaching induction standard in 2009 were men. In 2005, it was 28%.

But the GTCW said commentators could see redundancies in industries such as banking leading to a rise in male recruits in education.

The council said figures from the university recruitment service Ucas showed a 58% rise in Welsh male graduates opting for teaching, with 360 applying for a teaching course in February 2010, against the previous figure of 226.

The latest figures follow concern from GTCW at the end of last year that male teacher numbers were at a five-year low. The number of male primary teachers in Wales in December 2009 was 2,140, compared to 11,807 women.

After eight years in the primary sector, Meilir Tomos, 28, is teaching at Ysgol Gymraeg Pen y Garth in Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan.
'Broad range'

He said: "It's important that there are male teachers in primary school classrooms.

"Children need a mixture of influences and opinions, especially because they may not live with both parents.

"Teaching a broad range of subjects always appealed more to me, rather than getting stuck with one."

The GTCW's latest figures also show that the number of female head teachers is rising and becoming more representative of the gender profile of the teaching profession in Wales.

Four years ago there were roughly equal proportions of male and female head teachers even though women made up three-quarters of the teaching workforce.

The GTCW figures show a consistent upward trend in the proportion of women heads. However in the secondary sector, only 26% of heads are women.

GTCW chief executive Gary Brace said: "The widening gap in numbers between male and female teachers is concerning, particularly in the primary sector where the imbalance is greatest.

"It's important that the profession is able to provide good role models for both boys and girls and we hope that efforts to persuade more men to consider teaching as a career are successful."

Mr Brace welcomed the continuing rise in the proportion of female head teachers.

The GTCW register covers a total of 38,896 teachers in Wales.

The Welsh Assembly Government has been asked to comment.

August 21, 2010

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Male teachers in Malta

Bryan G Nelson — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0600

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by MaltaToday

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University gender ratios show women overtaking men in humanities, education, laws and business degrees

With women outnumbering men by a ratio of four to one among aspirant teachers, the male teacher is at risk of becoming a dying breed.

Statistics issued by the university from its 11 faculties show that only 265 of 1,418 students currently attending the Faculty of Education are men.

Malta Union of Teachers president John Bencini contends that women are more attracted to the profession because of holidays and working hours which match the time spent by their children at school.

This makes it easier for women teachers to reconcile work with family responsibilities. On the other hand, men are increasingly losing interest in the teaching profession because it is not as financially rewarding as other professions.

The decline of male teachers is a European-wide phenomenon, to the extent that a quarter of primary schools in the United Kingdom do not have a male teacher.

One of the concerns being raised is the absence of father-figures in schools. “In the past we used to complain about the absence of female models in schools. Now the opposite is the case,” Bencini told MaltaToday.

As in other countries, the absence of male teachers is more acute in primary schools and kindergartens, where females account for more 80% of the teaching staff. But even in secondary schools, the number of male teachers is on the decrease.

But it is not just in education or in the humanities – areas of studies which have traditionally attracted men – that males are being outnumbered by females. Males are also outnumbered in faculties normally associated with traditional power elites like lawyers and doctors, where females now outnumber males with a ratio of three women for every two men.

Significantly, women also outnumber men in the Faculty of Economic, Management and Accountancy, where they number 54% of students.

Men manage to hold their ground in dentistry and in science (where they account for half the number of students) and in architecture (Faculty for the Built Environment), where they still account for 60%.

It is in engineering that men retain an absolute dominance over women, who account for less than a quarter of aspirant engineers. Men also outnumber women by a similar ratio among budding geeks studying information technology.

Not surprisingly, men also prevail in the Faculty of Theology. But despite the church’s refusal to admit women to the priesthood, these sisters represent 40% of aspirant theologians.

April 25, 2010

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