Recruitment of men gets fresh impetus

in order to attract more men to the job, delegates at a national conference on men in childcare were told last week.

Kenny Spence, manager of the Edinburgh-based organisation Men in Childcare (Scotland), said the name change was one of several important steps that could be taken to persuade more men to enter the early years sector as a career. Others included ensuring that schools gave 'positive' careers advice to boys about childcare, improving pay, and having settings introduce a policy that supported the employment of men as childcarers.

Mr Spence also highlighted the isolation men felt when training for a career in childcare. He said that in 2002-03, out of 2,331 childcare students in Scotland, only 37 students - 1.5 per cent - were men, whereas 61 men were being trained in Edinburgh through his organisation. He said this success was due to a combination of factors such as aiming advertising directly at men, responding quickly to any inquiries by men, speaking to them at each stage of their training, supporting them throughout it and by building a good relationship with the colleges running the courses.