I believe it is passion that pushed me to pursue an ECE Masters degree. I had ever since been
in love with teaching, especially little kids. It has simply become my inspiration.
This idea [thinking about the importance of male teachers] started when I had worked for an International school in Bangkok. There was an issue that concerned the assignment of qualified male teachers in the pre-school department.
Parents were not very keen about having male pre-school teachers, so they (parents) demanded from
the school that their children’s teacher should be a female, regardless of the former’s qualifications, etc. etc..
From then on, I had been troubled by the thought of it. I had constantly questioned myself why most parents are so biased or should I say stereotyping ECE male teachers.
Now that am back in my home country, I decided to further my studies and without second thoughts, made this issue my topic for thesis. I then came across your site (after nights of toil!) and found a very good start to answer and prove whoever questioned men’s ability to be able to teach ECE.
There are thousands of single parent families and usually the kids stay with their mothers so having a male role model in the classroom especially in ECE will fill the void left by the fathers of these young kids. In a way, male teachers will serve as positive role models for them.
Reading the stories of male teachers in your site really moved me. It is a feat knowing that there are male teachers who are courageous and diligent enough to really teach young children.
I am always looking forward to read more about featured stories on ECE male teachers.
Thanks for the enlightenment. I hope this site will be more than just a venue to promote gender equality in the ECE teaching.
Ivy Rose Adame