Nursery World - Men in childcare: A matter of opinion

Some arguments about men working in childcare need to be challenged, says Julian Grenier

Some arguments about men working in childcare need to be challenged, says Julian Grenier

How would you like to work in a job where you are so mistrusted that every time you carried out one of your most basic duties, someone had to watch over you? In case you're tempted, you also need to know that you won't be paid as much as a factory worker at Walkers Crisps.

It's hardly surprising that it's an uphill struggle to get men to work in childcare. The main reason men don't want to work with young children is because they don't want to be accused of being child abusers. Yet a Thomas Coram Research Unit study discovered only two instances of abuse in daycare in England.1 Since then the two Newcastle nursery nurses accused of sexually abusing children have been publicly vindicated. So this leaves one case. There will have been other cases, not investigated or pursued through lack of evidence, but thinking that all men in daycare settings pose a significant risk to children is unjustified.

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