Strategies to Increase the Proportion of Male Child Care Workers

The low proportion of male childcare workers in pre-school education is regarded as a problem by educational scientists and policy makers all over Europe. The FWF-funded "elementar/public fathers" project (Aigner/Rohrmann (ed.) 2011) and other recent studies have helped improve our knowledge of how men chose this career and what their related experiences are. Indirectly, the findings also revealed factors which could help increase the proportion of men. On a European level, however, there is no comprehensive and scientifically well- based study with regard to how measures, or packages of measures, affect the view men have on child education and a career as male kindergarten teache. Nor do we know why several measures taken to raise the proportion of men have not produced the desired results. Our proposed research project therefore is aimed at jointly developing, adopting and analysing measures in a selected region, involving all stakeholders. Those measures will be implemented in institutions, educational and training facilities and will involve young men prior to their career choice, unemployed men, teachers, decision makers, politicians and administrative staff. The measures are based on the results yielded by the study "elementar/public fathers" alongside further studies and measures in European countries, particularly in Norway, Denmark, the United Kingdom and Germany. The research team will take a closer look at resistance present in the childcare system itself and the resistance in (young) men to change their attitudes. The parties` attitudes and behaviour will be measured at the beginning and at the end of the project. Processes of change will be documented and analysed from the perspective of political science, psychology and pedagogy. There will be interviews and discussion sessions with focus groups, which will be scientifically analysed. The research team hopes to gain insights into the effectiveness of measures taken and to find out to what degree a change in attitude and professional image can lead to an increased number of men working in childcare facilities.

The research project run in co-operation with regional stakeholders and spanning three years aimed to develop and implement measures to increase the ratio of men working in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) and, at the same time, to research supportive factors and obstacles. Empirical surveys included questionnaires (n=905), group discussions (n=10) and interviews (n=25) with all groups involved such as heads of nursery schools, politicians, those responsible for nursery school teacher education and men.The results showed that despite the explicit wish for a higher ratio of males working in the field there was hardly any evidence of systematic measures taken; the few initiatives that were found can be ascribed to the dedicated involvement of individuals. Initiators are generally heads of nursery schools, people involved in initial teacher education or Continuing Profession Development (CPD) and politicians. Overall it can be said that the theme of More Men in ECEC is of more interest to those involved in elementary pedagogy than to those in gender and womens issues.A partial result is that the representation of the profession through male workers reduces the prejudices amongst young men and contributes towards making the profession more attractive. This outcome is still to be observed one year after trialling. A single case study analysis of a career changer has shown that support through mentors is important as well as finding a suitable nursery school with an open culture and the availability of appropriate training opportunities in childcare centres.The publication of partial results led to intensified discussion around the importance of men in nursery schools and financing of campaigns through individual decision-makers.Institutions offering initial teacher education and CPD now show greater interest in lectures on an increase of the male ratio even though the theme of Men and Women in a Team is only included exceptionally included in CPD sessions.According to surveys, within the nursery schools themselves alongside the politically correct discussion around Opening up career opportunities for men in nursery schools there is a certain amount of scepticism towards men. This not only stems from the generalised suspicion of abuse but also shows a generally low acceptance of innovation within elementary institutions. Overall the results show up glass doors, on the one hand. On the other hand, and as opposed to womens advancement in technical professions, it would appear that male advancement in ECEC has not achieved general acceptance as yet.