Letters

I would like to address issues raised by Mr Halford (Letters 28 May-10June, 2012). I absolutely agree that some early years settings do appearto favour indoor activities - unfortunately, personal experience ofworking in low-quality nurseries with the same 'old school' habitssupports this opinion. Since the new EYFS intends to highlight theimportance of physical development, hopefully the sedentary 'indoorcurriculum' will soon be left behind. However, I must challenge MrHalford's apparent contempt for the gendered nature of the early yearssector.

As we know, as a result of our patriarchal culture, the sector ishistorically underpaid, underqualified and overwhelmingly female; areaswhich have been highlighted as being well overdue for revision. However,as Ms Nutbrown suggests in her interim report, until public perceptionof the early years sector can be improved, we cannot expect ambitiouschanges with regard to pay and status. Personal opinion suggests thatfinancial reward and clear career progression will go far towardattracting more men into the sector. However, at present, childcare isstill regarded as being largely women's work and, as such, unlikely toattract significant numbers of male practitioners. Unfortunately, untilsuch time as societal opinion is sufficiently adjusted to accept men asformal nursery practitioners, I fear that the sector is likely to begendered in the long-term.