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Paranoia surrounding child sex
abuse is masking some of the real barriers to recruiting men into childcare,
experts say. The Early Childhood Council has called
for a government-led initiative to encourage more males into the sector,
saying the "paedophile hysteria of the 1990s" had led to men
leaving the profession and put off potential new recruits. "Many men don't feel welcome
in childcare," chief executive Sue Thorne said. "They feel they
will be treated as suspect until proven innocent." The call follows research by Sarah
Farquhar that revealed less than 1 per cent of today's early-childhood
teachers were men. But some early-childhood experts
say that while the hysteria around child sex abuse sparked by high-profile
cases like that of Peter Ellis, who was accused of abusing children at the
Christchurch Civic Childcare Centre, may contribute to the lack of men in the
profession, the focus on one problem is hiding other barriers. "The issue is really complex
and I don't think the Peter Ellis stuff is really up there,"
early-childhood educator at Canterbury University Alex Gunn said. "The low status of child-care
work, low pay and the perception of it being a career for women all put off
men from going into early-childhood work." Farquhar acknowledged there were
other issues to be considered, saying it was "time to see the hysteria
and moral panic for what it was -- a panic". "Debate on men in early-childhood
teaching is needed in New Zealand," she said in her report. "The veil of sexism inherent
in the profession, due to it being a site for feminist activism and continued
promulgation of the idea that men are not safe to work with young children,
needs to be lifted and discussed." Lynda Boyd, director of
early-childhood teacher education at the Christchurch College of Education,
said she was lucky to see 10 male students in an intake of 500. "When I started at the
college I would get four or five men just in my tutorial group. "Now we are only getting four
or five in the whole course," she said. At Kidsfirst Kindergartens, just
seven of the 240-strong teaching staff are male. "I took over in 1995 and I
think we have more men than we did then," chief executive Sherryll
Wilson said. "They bring a different angle
to teaching. They are given a lot of support and I think that helps." |
