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The Christchurch Civic
Creche Case |
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Richmond man Anthony Holder owns
and manages two preschools but thinks twice before hiring male teachers and
is never alone with children himself because of the "risk
involved". The New Zealand Educational
Institute was today releasing relaxed guidelines on physical contact between
teachers and children. This follow concerns that teachers
were reluctant to touch children because of widespread anxiety about sexual
abuse. Mr Holder, a former Nelson Bays
rugby player, applauded the move but said he believed it would not reverse
men's reluctance to enter the profession. He had decided not to follow in
the footsteps of his father, a primary school teacher and principal, because
of the way society viewed men working alone with children. "We have to be very cautious.
You can't be in a room alone with children. It discourages you; you never
want to be put into a difficult situation." All preschools put male applicants
under unnecessary scrutiny. The case of Christchurch creche teacher Peter
Ellis put a dampener on the whole teaching environment, he said. Mr Holder was unsure that damage
could ever be repaired but believed it was important for children to have
male role models. "I'm often down at the
centres and parents comment on how good it is to have me down there," he
said. The new NZEI guidelines will cover
45,000 members who educate about 860,000 children aged from two to 20. They recognise that teachers and
support staff will come into physical contact with children and students
during their work and say "this is acceptable when carried out in a
professional and responsible manner that is age-appropriate". But members are advised "to
use common sense in all areas of their interaction with children and be
mindful of situations that may expose themselves to unnecessary risk". A report by Auckland University
education lecturer Alison Jones, released in 2003, highlighted concerns about
wet and naked children wandering out of pool changing rooms looking for help
in getting dressed, and girls lying prone on sports fields while male
teachers sent children to find a female to help. Nelson Kindergarten Association
general manager Wendy Logan said the new guidelines made no difference to the
way kindergartens operated. "In early childhood, we've
always had to touch children." All touching was witnessed by
someone else. No teacher, regardless of their gender, should be alone with a
child, Ms Logan said. The association has only two men
out of 65 fulltime staff working in its 19 kindergartens. Four men had worked in the
association's kindergartens in the last 10 years and one of them had left
because of peer pressure from his friends. "When I first started
employing male teachers, I thought parents might not like it but they have
been really popular." Ms Logan said men needed to be
specifically targeted through marketing and in the teachers' colleges.
Society's attitude to men working with young children had to change, she
said. Education Minister Steve Maharey
said he hoped to see more men choosing a career in early childhood teaching. The profession now offered a
professional qualification, a good career structure and improved
remuneration. "We can clearly do a lot more
to target men through our advertising and recruitment drives and this is
something I have asked the Ministry of Education to look at." Less than 1 percent of teachers in
early childhood education in New Zealand today are men compared with more
than 2 percent in the early 1990s. The gender imbalance is prevalent
at all levels of schooling. There were more than 31,000 female
teachers and 13,270 male teachers in primary, intermediate and high schools
last year. In the Nelson region, there were
344 female teachers and 125 male teachers in primary and intermediate schools
last year. High schools had a more balanced gender count, with 207 men and
219 women teaching. The Tasman District is the only
region in the country with more male than female secondary school teachers -
79 to 75. |
