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The
Evening Standard
November 17, 1997
Abuse fear scaring men off
by Lee Matthews
Men are still avoiding caring for young children as jobs because of the fear
of being accused of child abuse, says a Massey University academic.
Early education expert Sarah Farquhar says that, at best, men practise
defensive caregiving to guard against allegations of child abuse.
Dr Farquhar, commenting on last night's 20/20 television feature about the
1993 case of Christchurch
childcare worker Peter Ellis, convicted of child abuse, said most male
teachers would welcome a move to clear Ellis's name.
Earlier this year, Dr Farquhar released a study which showed that fear of
being accused of child abuse was the key reason men either dropped out of or
never began kindergarten or childcare work.
A number of men, especially in childcare centres, left their jobs at the time
of the Ellis case.
"It has meant that sensitive, caring and competent men willing to work
in early years education are not being encouraged and supported," she
said.
Society was suffering because children were now unlikely to have a male
teacher until high school. Since 1992, the number of men in preschool
services dropped from 2.1 to 1.4 percent. The gender gap in primary school
teaching was also growing, with 7.2 percent fewer male teachers now than in
1991.
On the positive side, the men who were teaching preschool did so because they
really wanted to. They had not been put off by the sector's low wages or lack
of career structure, Dr Farquhar said.
More men were needed in the area, to make sure children got the message that
men were as capable and as caring towards preschoolers as women were, she
said.
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