Children ‘without male role models’

LOW NUMBERS of men working in early years education may restrict children’s access to positive male role models, senior teachers will tell a major conference this weekend.

Members of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) are expected to call for action to encourage more men to work in the sector at their annual conference in Liverpool. Delegates are due to debate a resolution urging the Government to “acknowledge the low numbers of men employed in the early years”.

The resolution says: “We believe this can restrict opportunities for all children to experience positive male role models and can prevent children, especially those from deprived backgrounds, from fulfilling educational potential. We need to encourage a more diverse sector and call on the Department for Education (DfE) to work with the sector to identify ways to encourage more men into the early years.”

Figures from the DfE’s last childcare and early years survey, published in 2014, showed that men made up two per cent of childminders and the same proportion of nursery workers.

James Bowen, director of NAHT Edge, said: “It’s important for children to experience positive male role models, and understand that men can be interested in education, science or reading, just as much as in football.

“The lack of male teachers in early years is partly due to the perceived lack of status and importance this phase of education can have, and the subsequent lower pay early years roles can attract. This fails to recognise early years education is one of the most vital moments in a child’s education, and the point at which attainment and life chances can be set.”

Early years education covers pre-school such as nurseries, reception year and infant school.

The White Rose Morris Men, ‘dance in the dawn’ on Mayday or Beltane as it was once known, on Castle Hill, above Huddersfield. The roots of the tradition of Morris Dancing, originally from the Welsh border counties, date back to preChristian practices.