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Men in Early Childhood Education (Singapore). By Esther Ho.
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Men in Early Childhood Education (Singapore) By Esther Ho
Man enough to teach children – Sunday Times on 22nd July 2012“Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports figures show that as of December last year, there were just 40 men among a total of about 6,800 childcare teachers.”
Rationale of the Project • The slow growing numbers of male teachers in this profession over the years. • Curiosity about men’s interest in this profession. • To gather feedback from the men in the profession and the challenges male teachers face. • The psychological and social support needed for men in this profession.
Objective of the Project • To conduct a survey of the men in this profession. • To form a local network consisting of pre-service and in-service male teachers. • To raise awareness of the challenges and support needed to sustain men in this profession.
Summary of the survey 20 participated in the survey No. of years in this profession: 11 years and above: 3 6-10 years: 2 2-5 years: 5 0-1 year: 10
Reasons for choosing to work in this profession: • Passion for working with children • Exposure to church ministry that led to an interest to work with preschool children. • To make a difference in the lives of the children by providing a male figure in the predominantly female environment. • Enjoyment of interacting with children • Strong interest in children’s holistic development and in providing children with a good foundation from their early years. • To nurture children from the very beginning as most of the crucial development , such as character molding, starts from preschool.
Benefits of Male Teachers • Male teachers can be a role model for boys and girls in their early developmental stage. It gives them confidence in relating to both genders • Male teachers can provide an alternative for boys who have problems relating to female teachers. • Male teachers can provide a fatherly figure for boys to gain their identity; this is especially beneficial for children in single-parent families
Benefits of Male Teachers 4. Male teachers can offer differing perspectives with regards to teaching methods, tools and management policies and creating a balanced learning environment. 5. The presence of male teachers can enable greater involvement from fathers in the centre as they can relate better with the same gender. 6. Male teachers are more inclined to engage in a higher pace of physical activities
Challenges as Male Teachers • With female teachers • Conflicting perspectives in working with children • Unaware of the restrictions for male teachers such as carrying out routine care; thus, female teachers have to cover some of the male teachers’ duties • To be extremely careful in being too close to female teachers or girls (e.g., hugging girls). Thus, in the Asian context, male teachers might appear aloof and less caring
Challenges as Male Teachers • With parents • Distrust and worries about safety security • Stigma that male teachers are sexual predators/pedophiles • Male teachers’ disciplinary action may be considered too rough. • Male teachers need to prove to parents that they can do as well as females in all child development areas
Challenges as Male Teachers • With children • Not allowed to show affection like hugging a crying child. Children may feel rejected or feel that male teachers are aloof, and this makes it difficult to bond with the children. Eventually, it leaves male teachers to take on the role of hard, insensitive disciplinarians which is not the ideal image for children. • Getting children to understand that male teachers are unable to bathe them • Male teachers face challenges in handling children with behavioural issues
Recommended support: • Change the mindset of the teachers and parents about male teachers through public education. • Get the Ministry to provide support for men in this profession in terms of policies/guidelines. • Create a greater awareness through media that male teachers can make a positive impact on the lives of children. • Create a network where experienced male teachers are able to mentor new/younger male teachers. • Review the salary of the teachers.
Looking Beyond – Are we up to the challenges? • We are first a teacher in Early Childhood. • We want to get more men involved in teaching early childhood education. • We want to create an awareness that male teachers can contribute effectively to strengthening the foundation years of young children. • We want to create a forum where male teachers can meet to discuss their challenges and concerns in influencing the development of early childhood education.
Looking Beyond – Are we up to the challenges? In order to attract more man into early childhood, social and organisational support are imperative. • Further research is required so as to engage and make known to the public that male participation is relevant to uplifting the standards and quality of early childhood education. • Through more research about male participation in ECCE, we believe that male teachers can help promote more supportive policies and relationships with ECCE stakeholder in regard to male participation . • In conclusion, male teachers play a direct and moderating role model in strengthening the early foundations years of the child.
