Male Teachers in Early Childhood Education

With the rising call for pre K, universal preschool and a heightened awareness of early childhood education, (ECE), as a whole, the opportunities for teachers in these fields are blossoming for those with the right qualifications.

With ECE being seen, rightly, as more than simply daycare, i.e. “real school”, qualifications matter. Degrees are necessary, extended schooling is demanded. These are people’s kids we are talking about, after all, and a teacher needs to be educated in the proper pedagogy based on the prevailing research of the day.

With degreed teachers being the benchmark and a continuing drive toward more and more education being expected in the pre K classroom, there remains a qualification from a bygone era. To be an ECE teacher, it seems, one must be female.

With the large majority of ECE teachers being female, and statistically insignificant numbers of males emerging from college with an eye toward Early Childhood Education as a career goal, it looks like, in the U.S. at least, that this is a situation that isn’t on track to change any time soon. But, with the rising number of families having an active Dad in the picture, education seems to be the last place to allow children the benefits of a positive male role model.

While there is an ongoing call for more male teachers in primary and middle school grades, preschool is such a predominantly female workplace that any male in this role is sure to see himself as a resident of the “Land of Women”, (to borrow a phrase from Theodore Kokoros. His essay regarding being male in the ECE can be found here: ).

There are many reasons for this “gender gap”. Fear of being accused of abuse looms large in our “if it’s reported, he must be guilty” culture. This presumption of guilt is contrary to the American ideal of justice for all but that holds little sway in the mosh pit of outrage that has taken the place of our societal discourse. The accusation is made on page 1. The retraction or acquittal, page 12. All it takes is a parent with fear first and foremost in their minds for a misunderstanding to quickly become a call for dismissal or criminal charges.

That’s not to say that if there is a suspicion a parent shouldn't act on it. They certainly should. It simply means that we have been conditioned to believe that a male must have an ulterior motive for being in such a field of employ.

That may be because of the idea that “kids are women’s work”.

The underlying sentiment is that any male who would seek out such a traditionally low-paying position must be deficient in his “maleness”, and thereby, at least within the minds of some more unenlightened folks, less of a “man”. Some might even question the male ECE teacher’s ability to become a “real” teacher, and thereby reinforce the idea that dealing with kids on the preschool level is woman’s work. While this idea couldn't be farther from the truth, it remains, and pervades, our society.

All of this, though, leaves out an important point; kids need good role models. Anecdotal evidence suggests “…men and women on average seem to interact with children differently, and children respond to them differently. This means men might be able to provide children with important experiences that they are currently missing out on.” (In The Land Of Women: Being a Man in Early Childhood Education).

Numbers of families led by a single mother vary widely across racial and ethnic groups . Among families where the father is the sole parent, however, racial and ethnic divides are much, much less. While these families represent a drastically smaller portion of American families as a whole, there are still more than seven million kids living in single father households. (Male Teachers as Role Models)

The American family has changed and will continue to do so. These changes are us. The classroom, on all levels, needs to reflect this.

If men are coming back into their own families as not only breadwinners, but, engaged and attentive parents, why don’t we see them as a positive addition to the ECE classroom? We must, if our children are to reap the benefits of seeing how adults are supposed to act, and interact, with children and each other throughout their day. Our children need to be allowed to fear less and learn more. Some of that they can get from a gender-balanced school environment. 

The rest they need to learn from us.

Combating the Word Gap

The “word gap” represents a disparity between kids from upper economic level families and kids from lower economic level families. Specifically, it means that kids from lower level families hear fewer words than their counterparts in higher income families. As it turns out, thousands fewer. This word gap means those kids who hear fewer words understand less of their language. This can manifest itself in many ways, with more frustration in school, lower grades and lower levels of success among them.

A recent Stanford University study, (check out a video with the researchers talking about
their findings here ), noted differences in recognition speed and other factors among toddlers, echoing
“the landmark Hart and Risley study in 1995” that “ identified “remarkable differences” in the early vocabulary experiences of young children.”
(This quote taken from the NAEYC website story found here. This is a great article with lots of ideas and resources for parents and teachers concerned with this issue. It provides ways to address the issue and ideas for making a difference.)

Here’s one more. If you have kids, (any age), try this. Grab a dictionary and open to the first page. Take the first word, (if that is too common, find one that isn’t), and read the entry to your kids. Let them roll their eyes. Read the definition. When they ask what you think you are doing, tell them that you want to know more about your language, and you want them to know more too.

Do it again tomorrow. And the next day. And the next. Keep going, each day. One word, that’s all. Don’t be surprised when your kids start remembering the definitions. Don’t be surprised, but be encouraging, when they reach for the dictionary instead of asking you what this or that word means when they are reading for homework. Don’t be surprised when they start looking up words of their own to share.

Will this fix the problem? No. The word gap needs to be addressed in both the home and the school system, as well as a much larger approach designed by people way smarter than me. But, what it can do is create a family standard. A standard that shows kids and the adults in the house that knowledge of the language is important. Pronunciation counts. Understanding is key. It sets a standard that shows that it is not enough to “get by”. To excel is the goal. 

Sometimes it's a small approach that can make a big difference.