Key Articles

A survey with results from nearly 500 Minnesota fathers and 250 early childhood education professionals and practitioners reveals key findings:

Parental opinion on male childcarers is warming after a survey by a group of major nursery providers found 98 per cent of parents are in favour of men looking after their children.

The Major Providers' Group, made up of 14 of the largest nursery chains in the UK, has found that the vast majority of the 1,200 parents questioned would be happy for men to work with children aged three to five in day nurseries.

In today's world, as taxpayers everywhere are concerned over paying for schools, it comes as a shock to see that, according to new findings by Amine Ouazad, an Assistant Professor of Economics and Political Science at INSEAD, one of the most effective ways to get students to listen and work hard is to put a male teacher at the front of the classroom.

Pupils try harder for male teachers, according to an official study.

They make more effort to please them, display greater self-esteem and are more likely to believe they are being treated fairly.

The findings are particularly significant as more than a quarter of primary schools do not have a single male teacher.

[MenTeach: Here is so early research from the 1970s showing that there is a positive effect having male teachers.]

After presenting at the 4th Annual Men in Early Childhood Education New Zealand conference I had the opportunity to appear on TV3 a national morning show (thanks for arranging that Adam Buckingham!). By the way, I had special bumper stickers made for NZ because in certain parts of the world diapers are called nappies.

Here is the clip.

Jack Kammer, who created The Center for Men and Boys in Social Policy forwarded a new study that comes from the Maine Boys Network has come out with The Gender Divide in Academic Achievement (2008) that interviewed boys about their atti

MenTeach (represented by Jonathan Maiden and Bryan G. Nelson) appeared on ABC New Good Morning America Story Monday, October 20th, 2008 on a brief segment about the rewards and challenges that men face working with young children.

[MenTeach - This article generated hundreds of comments from readers at the ABCnews.com website. After reading the article, there is a link at the end. Go read a few to see whether you agree.]

[MenTeach: Dr. Lynn E. Nielsen" focuses his work on recruiting male teachers. Here is one article about his teaching. You can another article about diversity here. And his story here.]

Arthur Brokop, a young substitute teacher, shut the windowless door of the first-grade classroom he'd been called in to oversee.

He dimmed the lights while showing a video and, one by one, put three young girls on his lap so he could fondle them through their clothing.

The crime still haunts the school superintendent in this town surrounded by oil fields and the rugged high desert of northwestern New Mexico.

In this article, we examine how prevailing and alternative conceptions of masculinity framed the ways in which 40 White, male, elementary preservice teachers constructed the meaning of teaching. The imperatives associated with maleness were recognizable through four metaphors frequently used to define teaching and themselves as teachers; to teach is as follows: (a) to be a male role model, (b) to be a sports coach, (c) to appeal to reason, and (d) to prepare oneself for occupations within the field of education that carry more status.

MenTeach: There is much discussion about men teachers being male role models. It's important to keep in mind that the idea of what "maleness" is - is constantly changing. Here is an excerpt from "Asking the Right Questions about Baltimore's African-American Underclass Men and Boys" by Jack Kammer

COMMONLY ACCEPTED OBJECTS AND ACTIVITIES THAT ONCE WERE THOUGHT UNMANLY

One of our readers provided the the link to the letter below offering a legal opinion about whether females can be the only staff that change diapers:

Now seven years old, the Call Me Mister program has placed 20 Black male teachers in South Carolina schools.

So how are they doing?

About six years ago, Mark Joseph found something he had been seeking for some time: a sense of purpose. A native of Greenville, S.C., Joseph had been a standout football and basketball player in high school, but he lasted just one semester at the University of South Carolina. Realizing that he just wasn't ready to buckle down, he says he drifted.