The Christchurch Civic
Creche Case |
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Press Release New Zealand is one of the worst
countries in the developed world when it comes to numbers of men working in
early childhood centres, but has the potential to be one of the best, says a
visiting early childhood education expert. Co-ordinator of the Resource and
Training Centre for Child Care at the University of Ghent (Belgium) Jan Peeters said New Zealand's male participation rate of
less than 1% compared 'very badly' with countries such as Denmark, Sweden,
Scotland and Norway (which has achieved almost 10%). Mr Peeters
was in Christchurch this weekend (ending 01 April) to address the annual
conference of the Early Childhood Council and to take part in a New Zealand
'working party' tasked with attracting more men into the New Zealand early
childhood sector. Mr Peeters
said that based on what he had seen whilst in the country, 'New Zealand has,
despite your recent bad performance, the potential to lead the world when it
comes to the participation rate of men in early childhood education'. Countries most successful in
getting men into early childhood education had involved concerted action by
Government, the teacher trainers and the centres, Mr Peeters
said. 'This is because centres on their
own cannot attract male teachers who do not exist. Teacher trainers train new
teachers for no purpose if centres do not welcome them. And Government cannot
succeed with policy if the teacher trainers and centres are not committed to
delivering. 'That is why I am so optimistic
about New Zealand. The workshop I have just attended was remarkable by world
standards. You had senior people from Government, your Universities, and your
childcare centres all sitting around one table as equals and all focussed on how to get more men into the sector. 'It would not happen that way in
most countries. It was all very egalitarian, all very practical, very
down-to-earth, very "this is the problem, now what do we do to fix
it."' Mr Peeters
said his other reason for optimism about New Zealand was 'the seemingly
astonishing achievement of your kohanga reo in attracting men to working in their centres'. 'I am told it has achieved about
30%' of its teachers being male, with about half of these qualified and half
in training. 'That would mean that in New
Zealand you have an approach to attracting men that is world leading, that is
worthy of international study.' It had been interesting to hear
how kohanga had attracted so many men to early
childhood teaching, because 'many of the techniques are exactly what
international research suggests should be done'. 'I am told that from day one they
encourage fathers to be involved with children at their centres, fathers are
involved in managing the centres, and they recognise that Maori men have a
special role with children that compliments the role of women. 'They identify what individual
fathers can contribute to centres as soon as they can, then once they are
doing volunteer work they encourage them to train as teachers. They also
recognise the importance of grandfathers, and encourage them to take an
active role.' Mr Peeters
said men brought 'major benefits' to the centres where they worked. 'They provide positive male role
models for both boys and girls. They teach boys it is part of the male job
description to be gentle and nurturing. They provide reliable male figures
for children who do not have access to father figures. 'And they provide a new source of
labour for a sector that is short of trained teachers.' New Zealand has 13,609 women and
only 132 men working in its free Kindgartens,
childcare centres and in homebased care. (2005 figures)
Since the early 1990s the percentage of men in the sector has halved from two
to less than 1%. Mr Peeters
was brought to New Zealand by the Early Childhood Council to address its
annual conference (held in Christchurch from 30 March to 01 April) and to
attend an Early-Childhood-Council-convened workshop tasked with devising an
action plan for getting more men working in New Zealand's early childhood
education centres. Those attending the workshop came
from the three main parts of the early childhood sector: Government including
the Ministry of Education and Chair of Parliament's Education and Science
Select Committee Hon Brian Donnelly; senior teacher educators including those
from the universities of Auckland and Canterbury; and leaders from service
delivery organizations such as the Kindergartens, Kohanga
Reo, the New Zealand Childcare Association and the
Early Childhood Council. The workshop devised an outline
plan for getting more men working it the early childhood education sector and
committed to developing a more detailed plan in the coming months. |