When diversity excludes men
New Zealand has few male teachers in early childcare. Greer Berry asks those in the sector what can be done to shake off the stigma of the past and move towards a more balanced approach to gender representation in the eyes of our little ones.
Edward Todd was always interested in a career in education.
As an eldest child, the now 24-year-old often found himself in charge of younger ones and thought he might end up as a social studies or history teacher.
But a gateway programme at high school to volunteer in an early childcare centre planted a seed and Todd, now a teacher at Turitea Childcare Centre in Palmerston North, says he’s never looked back.
‘‘The world doesn’t need another social studies or history teacher,’’ he says, laughing.
Only 3 per cent of early childhood education teachers in New Zealand are male. That’s about 750 male teachers out of more than 31,400 nationwide.
In Manawatu¯ , despite the number of male teachers almost doubling over the past seven years, the ratio still sits about 2.2 per cent.
It is one of the lowest rates of male early childhood teachers in the developed world and flies in the face of European countries such as Germany, Netherlands and France, where male participation sits at more than 10 per cent.
There are policies in place over there though. The European Union has a target of having a 20 per cent male ECE workforce by 2020 and is hoping to achieve that through a range of campaigns.
It has worked already in places such as Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Belgium, but in New Zealand? Nothing.
Russell Ballantyne has strong feelings about this. He frequently apologies for his passion on the topic, but once he gets going, you can understand his frustration.
Ballantyne runs Early Childhood on Stafford in Dunedin and is president of the Men in Early Childhood Network NZ.
He points to the latest draft strategic 10-year plan for early learning, where the Ministry of Education says one of the key goals is that: ‘‘All children should have equitable access to a well-qualified workforce that mirrors the diverse cultures and genders that constitute Aotearoa New Zealand,’’ but then fails to mention how it will close the gender gap.
It does mention diversity in attracting more Pacific and Ma¯ ori, but not more men, unless you count the couple of pictures of male teachers it uses in the same document.
Ministry deputy secretary for evidence, data and knowledge Dr Craig Jones says the Government, historically, has not played a large role in managing the teacher workforce in the early childhood sector.
‘‘This sector is made up of independent community and private providers that operate independently,’’ he says.
‘‘However, we acknowledge that men are under-represented in the ECE sector and report on it regularly. While the majority of teaching staff in early childhood education services are female, the number of non-female staff has increased in recent years.’’
It’s that lack of a plan that really riles Ballantyne. The 59-year-old is a progressive thinker – he acknowledges gender is fluid and it’s not a simple case of women versus men.
But the mere fact the ministry won’t acknowledge that the gap exists and that right now classrooms are not reflective of
the diverse communities in which they exist does Ballantyne’s head in.
‘‘I’ve always found the people I’ve worked with… they’ve always really enjoyed the input of multiple genders, but it seems to be the people in power that are the gatekeepers,’’ he says.
‘‘We’ve always said, the police, the army, the navy, there’s lots of women now in a-typical roles. Teaching? You don’t see it. There’s no push from the Ministry of Education at all.
‘‘What we know is any positive actions trying to promote early childhood for men does have a positive impact... There’s a lot of research on diversity. It says diverse teams and teams that represent their communities are more effective, they’re more profitable, all that good positive stuff. But there’s an education to have this kind of discussion.’’
And at the end of the day, it’s the children who are missing out.
‘‘It’s good for both boys and girls to have men in a caring role,’’ he says.
‘‘All men are different and the best thing we can teach our children is that all adults are different and they think different. It’s not just because of their gender.’’
And that’s a really interesting point. The inclusion of men in early childhood education isn’t about just introducing a-typical ‘‘manly men’’ who are in to rough and tumble, outdoor play and have interests in topics such as science.
Ballantyne was the captain of his first XV rugby team, but Palmerston North early childhood teacher Robert Jensen comes at things differently again.
‘‘I’ve thought about this a lot as people do comment that males bring more of that technical side of life because they know how to use tools. That doesn’t quite fit with me because growing up I did ballet, modern dance, theatre, a lot of the nontraditional guy stuff,’’ he says.
‘‘So often as a man when you go in to a job, your job is related to your brawn and your muscles. But when your job is teaching under-5s, that brawn side of it doesn’t really come in to the equation. It’s very much a brain, heart thing. This is one of the only jobs I’ve had where you have to come from that heart place. You can’t be angry or aggressive. It’s a case of being understanding and caring.’’
The 45-year-old found himself in the sector accidently after moving from Auckland to Palmerston North and being unable to find the right corporate role.
Jensen’s wife’s family owned some childcare centres so he began relieving and quickly worked out that his event management, arts and acting background naturally worked with children. He went back to tertiary study to formally qualify as an early childhood teacher, overcoming a learning difficulty and becoming valedictorian of his year.
It’s a sector Jensen has worked in for almost 12 years and he is now head teacher at Tu¯ ı¯ Young Investigators.
So how does he slot in to a big group of women?
‘‘Sometimes awkwardly,’’ he replies honestly. ‘‘I’m not a big ra-ra rugby guy so I am able to have conversations with women that aren’t about sports.
‘‘It all depends on the individual woman. A lot of younger women are like the male version of feminism, they’re like: ‘Yeah, go you.’ Where the older women tend to focus on children’s need for male role models.’’
Both Jensen and Ballantyne agree the key to attracting more men to early childhood education is holding the door open and inviting them in.
‘‘All the international research says that men need to be invited in because they know they’re going in to someone else’s domain, and often it’s the women who say to a man: ‘Have you ever thought about teaching? You’d be a really good teacher’, and often that gives men the confidence to apply,’’ says Ballantyne.
Jensen believes media campaigns might help decrease some of the stigma in the public and show other men early childhood education could be a really good career for them.
‘‘Most of the negativity I get isn’t from the teachers or parents. It’s people out in society. In the early stages of my career I still had people talking to me about the Christchurch creche incident and why was I doing the job after that? Luckily, I haven’t heard anyone talk about that in about five years,’’ he says.
‘‘One of the big things that men in our industry can do is show that men can be kind and gentle. What we see in media is that men are aggressive, that whole toxic male culture that we’re desperately trying to get rid of the world.’’
Todd says early childhood education is still seen as a women’s area, but he thinks that’s changing, however slowly.
‘‘So far all the reactions I’ve had so far from being a man in early childcare has been positive, but you always have that thing at the back of your mind,’’ he says.
‘‘There’s a real need and a gap in the market for men in early childhood... There’s not a lot of emphasis put on men. Of all the minorities and demographics, it’s men that are least represented in the industry.’’
It’s a job he says is fulfilling, exciting, where no two days are the same.
‘‘Getting to know the kids and being a part of their world, how they see the world and you get to see that and it’s really fulfilling.’’
Ballantyne says there is a new element of younger guys who don’t see that gender is an issue.
‘‘And they feel like: ‘That’s just what I do’ and that’s what we want it to be like.’’
But Todd warns working in a predominantly female industry does have some amusing drawbacks.
‘‘You leave the toilet seat up once...’’ he says, laughing.