Nursery World - Men at work (2)

While childcare may no longer be seen as 'women's work', there are still far too few men in the sector, says Sue Cowley.

As educators, one of the key ways we help our children to learn is by modelling the kind of society in which we want them to live.

We encourage them to be helpful, polite and respectful, to behave well and to treat other people as they hope to be treated themselves. We show them what it means to live in a diverse society. We help them understand how all people can be treated as equals, rather than some having greater opportunities than others, through an accident of birth.

I can regularly be heard bemoaning a lack of diversity, when I see yet another education conference line-up containing only white male faces. I frequently rail against 'recommended education book' lists with only a single woman on them, and no black or minority ethic representation at all. When I raise this as an issue, I am sometimes told to 'stop making a fuss', or given the standard brush-off: 'Well, we only picked the best'. But there is another area where we need to consider diversity, and that is in the worrying lack of male practitioners in our sector.

Register now to continue reading

Thank you for visiting Nursery World and making use of our archive of more than 35,000 expert features, subject guides, case studies and policy updates. Why not register today and enjoy the following great benefits:

What's included