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Education 3-13: International Journal
of Primary, Elementary and Early Years
Education
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Why are there still so few men within
Early Years in primary schools: views
from male trainee teachers and male
leaders?
Malini Mistry
a
& Krishan Sood
b
a
School of Education, University of Bedfordshire, Bedford, MK41
9EA, UK
b
Education, Nottingham Trent University, Clifton Campus,
Nottingham, NG11 8NS, UK
Version of record first published: 29 Jan 2013.
To cite this article: Malini Mistry & Krishan Sood (2013): Why are there still so few men
within Early Years in primary schools: views from male trainee teachers and male leaders?,
Education 3-13: International Journal of Primary, Elementary and Early Years Education,
DOI:10.1080/03004279.2012.759607
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03004279.2012.759607
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Why are there still so few men within Early Years in primary schools:
views from male trainee teachers and male leaders?
Malini Mistry
a
*
and Krishan Sood
b
a
School of Education, University of Bedfordshire, Bedford, MK41 9EA UK;
b
Education, Nottingham
Trent University, Clifton Campus, Nottingham, NG11 8NS UK
(Received 7 August 2012; final version received 11 December 2012)
One of the challenges facing the Early Years (EY) sector is how to encourage more male
practitioners to counterbalance a largely feminised workforce. Using case studies of
male trainees at different stages of their primary undergraduate Initial Teacher
Training course at one university, we attempt to consider data why there is under-
representation of men within the leadership strata in EY settings. Questionnaires and
interviews were conducted with the male sample groups and male leaders in primary
schools to gain an overview regarding gender stereotyping. Our findings suggest that
male trainees enjoy working in the EY sector, but they need mentoring by strong
leaders to help them overcome the perceived contextual barriers of male stereotypes
in that setting. In conclusion, we consider some of these barriers of stereotypes,
attitudes, values, beliefs existing and the actions needed in addressing such
stereotypes if a long-lasting change is to happen.
Keywords: Early Years; ITT; male; attitudes; stereotyping
Introduction
The Early Years (EY) sector in England plays a pivotal role in providing quality care and
provision for children aged 0–5 years (Randall 2000; Lloyd 2008). This supports the
10-year childcare strategy in England setting out the Government’s vision of childcare to
‘ensure that every child gets the best start in life and to give parents more choice about
how to balance work and family life’ (Daycare Trust 2008, online). The Early Years Foun-
dation Stage (DfE 2012a) curriculum currently consists of seven areas of learning and it
became statutory from September 2012 for all EY government-registered settings. Moss
(2006) has identified a push by the Government into raising the quality and status of EY
practice and provision, which is also supported by the Nutbrown review (DfE 2012b),
emphasising the importance of having a highly qualified EY workforce. However, a chal-
lenge for the EY sector is how to encourage more male practitioners to balance the largely
feminised workforce (Miller and Cable 2011).
Over time, primary schools seem to have become organisations that have established
what Connell (2002, 53) has termed a ‘gender regime’, which maintains existing gender
norms. In such primary schools, for example, it is more likely that everyday practices
may operate to reinforce the dominant construction of EY teaching as more suitable and
natural for females than for males. Male practitioners in the EY setting are perceived to
be seen to be highly conspicuous and may be subjected to considerable suspicion
© 2013 ASPE
*Corresponding author. Email: malini.mistry@beds.ac.uk
Education 3–13, 2013
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03004279.2012.759607
Downloaded by [Malini Mistry] at 07:02 31 January 2013
(Smedley 2007). This highly gendered perception can cause problems for male practitioners
wanting to work in the EY sector. There is also this rather unhelpful message from the
media for the involvement of more males to compensate for the occupational gender
imbalance of EY. There is a common perception that males who choose to work with
young children are often assumed to be ‘ either homosexuals, pedophiles or principals in
training’ (King 1998, 3, reported in Sumsion 2000, 130). Such perceptions need to be chal-
lenged through research evidence using a much larger sample than what has been used in
our study and also to conduct research to assess how these perceptions and myths arise
within society using sociological, power dynamics and collective identity theories. The
next section considers some of the literature based on theorising gender and education.
Literature
The mainstream theories on gender and education and critical management studies appear
to focus their attention on power, discourse and deconstruction, so the scholarship on
gender tends to be dispersed (Powell, Butterfield, and Parent 2002). There are studies
reporting on several gendered processes such as valuing men’s work over women’s (Grim-
shaw and Rubery 2007), gendered division of labour in management (Legge 1987) and gen-
dered division of authority in management (Marshall 1991) where organisations are
dominated by masculine values and behaviour (Hopkins 2000; Kimmel 2004). So, what
we see are gendered processes and their interrelations as often being paradoxical and
open to multiple interpretations. In the context of our study, the challenge is to synthesis
and analyse how such gendered processes influence and shape organisational setup.
Schools are part of society and we need to consider the bene fit of a balanced workforce
that male and female have in education, rather than viewing gender in a dualist way of
sex/gender role models (Connell 1987). In reviewing the literature on gender in education
and looking at how feminist theorisation can offer new understanding to the debate about
EY, role models and stereotyping, we note some very detailed abstractions based on socio-
biological to equality issues, but many fail to deal with the gender-blind nature of much
organisational/management theory.
There are many research papers charting the challenges of progress of women leader-
ship and management (Shakeshaft 1989; Blackmore 2006), but less so on the reflections
of male practitioners in the Initial Teacher Training (ITT) sector regarding EY. This
paper looks at the progress made in understanding the experiences of male trainees in
one higher education institution (HEI) in England. We analyse some of the key themes
of gender and EY, identity and the notion of ‘otherness’ and conclude with ideas of
action as a way forward.
Gender and EY
Within the context of EY in primary schools and in wider society, the major discourse that
more male practitioners are needed has a significant impact and is accepted as common
sense. Yet there appears to be no clear explanation of why this should be so. The issue
of gender and ethnicity in education appears to alert in people signs of ‘silence, blindness
and fear’ (Rusch 2004, 19). The gender imbalance in the EY setting is stark, with EY work-
force being some ‘99% despite policy shifts in favour of men working in this setting’
(Roberts-Holmes and Brownhill 2011, 119). The debate that females are more caring, sen-
sitive and creative (Browne 2008) than males has moved on, but as noted earlier, society
still views males in the EY/primary school settings as suspicious, thus deterring some
2 M. Mistry and K. Sood
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males from entering the profession. The numbers of males applying for ITT courses are very
low in comparison with those of females, despite many positive initiatives by HEIs promot-
ing such career pathways such as taster courses for males in primary schools. The low status
of the profession and the perceive d notion of a secondary wage earner (Cushman 2005)
compound the entry of males into EY settings.
There are contrasting views of males versus females as professionals in the EY sector. A
number of authors advance the male model rhetoric (Cook 2006; Mills, Hasse, and Charlot
2008) suggesting that males make as good role models as females, arguing that they can
better meet the educational needs of boys who come from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Odih (2002) advocated that men in the EY setting, in particular, seem to complement the
‘soft pedagogical practices of women’ (Odih 2002, 91, cited in Roberts-Holmes and
Brownhill 2011, 124). Such envisioning of male masculinity (Connell 1995) thesis needs
to be tested out through longitudinal research.
There are a number of studies that challenge the male role model theory (Bricheno and
Thornton 2002; Sabbe and Aelterman 2007) where boys’ educational attainment is thought
to make a difference by having male practitioners, with one study suggesting that boys’ atti-
tudes towards learning may be more positive when they are taught by female practition ers.
But it appears that some of the research evidence on role model argument may be highly
contested, with some research considering that the knowledge and pedagogical and inter-
personal skills are more important in engaging children as learners, regardless of gender
(Carrington et al. 2007). This poses a challeng e for recruitment and leaders to think and
lead differently. To that end, Lumby and Coleman (2007, 7) suggest that ‘the act of leader-
ship may need to metamorphose’, by suggesting that the skills and techniques that might
have worked in some settings may not be as effective or appropriate in different contexts
such as EY. The notion of collective identity is explored next.
Collective ‘identity’
The concept of a collective identity refers to a set of individuals’ sense of belonging to the
group or collective. Males and females in the educational sector are considered as pro-
fessionals, but to be viewed as a professional, in the context of teaching assistants, for
example, they would need to ‘build a credible identity within their organisations and
local communities’ (Lowe 2008, 17). We would contend that males’ professional identity
and perceptions of their status are influenced by their treatment within the organisation.
Wenger (1998, 6) suggests that people belong to a number of ‘communities of practice’
in their lifetimes and it is partly these that influence how they shape their identities. A com-
munity of practice denotes that the members have a shared field of interest and that they
interact and learn through that interaction whether consciously or unconsciously. The impli-
cation is that the community creates a ‘shared repertoire’ of practice (Wenger 1998, 82).
McGillivray (2011, 98) rightly indicates that ‘how we see ourselves in the workplace
and the influence of others in creating a self-image are both significant’. Therefore, con-
sideration has to be given to how males may perceive themselves within their professional
contexts and how that perception is formed. A starting point is how their rol e is defined by
others and the underlying issues that are involved. The notion of ‘collective identity’
(Adams 2008, 208) raises many issues, which shows some of the difficulties in this area.
McMillan and Walsh (2011) (cited in Miller and Cable 2011, 57) suggest that we need
shared training and equality of resources to achieve professional identity. So, the challenge
for EY is how to better understand gender stereotyping and how to make the EY sector more
attractive to male practitioners. Equally crucial are the voices of male trainees regarding
Education 3–13 3
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