Men teaching young children:“you can never be too sure what their intentions might be”

Abstract

The teaching of young children (aged between 5 and 9) or Foundation Phase (FP) as it is known in South Africa, is highly gendered and is labeled a ‘woman’s’ job. Globally there have been calls to lessen the gender disparity within the profession by increasing the participation of men. However, apprehensions about men teaching young children can counteract such efforts. In this paper we highlight the concerns emanating from a group of male and female South African primary school teachers about men teaching young children. We focus on a dominant discourse employed by the teachers that invokes essentialist notions of men as violent sexual predators, and simultaneously reinforces notions of children as vulnerable and in need of protection from men. These notions of men conjured up feelings of apprehension amongst the teachers about men as FP teachers. South Africa’s high levels of male sexual violence had especially compelled them to exercise caution when ratifying men as FP teachers. Based on these findings we argue that in order to increase men’s participation as FP teachers, there is need to address the essentialist and homogenising versions of masculinity whilst promoting alternative versions of men and masculinity by shifting away from the reproduction of men as sexual predators.

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