Following on from its research published last week, the Alliance is aiming to address barriers to fathers' involvement by testing three models in 12 member settings across the country.
The first strand of the research (Nursery World, 17 March) found that the overwhelmingly female childcare workforce is a significant factor that puts off fathers.
The second part of the research, which looked at the views of involved and non-involved fathers, found that many fathers felt ambivalent about being involved in their child's early years setting.
Tim Kahn, family learning development officer and author of the report, said, 'Fathers who live with their young children are now doing one third of the childcare, according to research by Fisher et al (1999). But only a small minority are involved in their child's early years setting.'
He added, 'The general feeling is that fathers are happy to support their partners in childcare activities, but at this stage we don't know to what extent they really want to be involved in their child's setting.'
The three pilot programmes, which start in September, will attempt to redress some of the barriers to involving fathers in childcare settings.
The first model will focus on promoting inclusive communication with mothers and fathers - for example, ensuring that the language used in communication appeals to both genders. The second will encourage the development of father-centred activities, such as Saturday morning sessions for fathers and children and 'dads' days. The third model will focus on encouraging greater discussion of gendered appraisals of parenting.
Mr Kahn said, 'Gender is rarely discussed because of the almost complete absence of men in settings. Settings participating in the GenderTalk model will receive training to help them openly talk about such issues. We want to explore whether this will help change the gender dynamics and lead to the greater involvement of fathers in settings' activities.'
Steve Alexander, chief executive of the Alliance, said, 'Historically the pre-school playgroup movement played a key role in empowering women. In 2005, the challenge is to create nurturing groups for all parents, mothers and fathers.'
The summary report, Fathers' involvement in early years settings: Findings from research can be downloaded from www.pre-school.org.uk.
