Negotiating Otherness : A male early childhood educator's gender positioning

Abstract

Despite increasing male participation in recent years in many traditional “female” professions, early childhood education continues to be widely regarded as women's work. Male early childhood educators, therefore, are highly conspicuous and subject to considerable suspicion (Murray, S.B. (1996) 'We all love Charles': men in child care and the social construction of gender. Gender & Educational Studies, 45, pp. 276-292; Skelton, C. (1991) A study of the career perspectives of male teachers of young children. Gender and Education, 6, pp. 87-93). Consequently, they must carefully negotiate their “otherness” (King, J.R. (1998) Uncommon Caring: Learning from men who teach young children. (New York Teacher's College Press)). This article draws on data from in-depth interviews and informal conversations to describe the gender positioning strategies adopted by an Australian preschool teacher-director as he undertakes the challenge. It also provides insights into his positioning by others. The concluding discussion focuses on possible implications of a greater male presence in early childhood education for the sector's potential to contribute to gender reform. En dépit de la participation mâle croissante ces dernières années à beaucoup de professions traditionnellement 'femelle', la première éducation d'enfance continue à être largement considérée comme le ravail des femmes. Les premiers éducateurs d'enfance de mâle sont sujets, donc, fortement remarquables et au soupçon considérable (Murray, S.B. (1996) 'We all love Charles': men in child care and the social construction gender. Gender & Educational Studies, 45, pp. 276-292; Skelton, C. (1991) A study of the career perspectives of male teachers of young children. Gender and Education, 6, pp. 87-93). En conséquence, ils doivent soigneusement négocier leur 'otherness' (King, J.R. (1998) Uncommon Caring: Learning from men who teach young children. (New York, Teacher's College Press)). Cet article dessine sur des données des entrevues détaillées et des conversations sans cérémonie pour décrire le genre plaçant des stratégies adoptées par un professeur/directeur préscolaire Australien pendant qu'il entreprend ce défi. Il fournit également des perspicacités dans le sien qui place par d'autres. La discussion de conclusion se concentre sur des implications possibles d'une plus grande présence mâle dans la première éducation d'enfance pour que le potentiel du secteur contribue à la réforme de genre.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 99 citations exist upstream.

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.