I am an early childhood teacher in New Zealand, and being a male I have heard just about all the stereotypes possible - ‘isn't that a woman's job?’ is the most common. This has lead me to believe the education system is failing, as it focuses on gender stereotypes and limits people's dreams and aspirations. I am lucky I have a strong personality and can ignore people who think that my choice of career is strange - I think being a male teacher in early childhood is great and I am proud of my career.
My philosophy for teaching is that we as educators should be challenging these gender stereotypes in children from a young age. There is a lot of inequality in the world - the majority of CEOS are men while the majority of teachers and nurses are woman. Why is it that the majority of teachers are woman (Male early childhood teachers in New Zealand only male up 2% of the workforce!!) but the principal is often male? What message does this send to woman - that they can't be leaders? Although we are seeing an increase in females in leaderships roles we still have a long way to go.
As a early childhood teacher I take my role very seriously and I believe the first few years of a child's life are vital for forming their views on the world. I always encourage children to be whatever they want to be - girls can be police and boys can wear pink! I often reinforced this by not giving into these stereotypes myself - wearing pink and jewelry and inviting and encouraging girls to take part in typical boy activities such as contact sports or playing with trucks. The language we use around children reinforce these stereotypes so we need to be selective and careful - boys can be called ‘beautiful’ and ‘pretty’ while girls can be called ‘smart’ and ‘strong’. These changes in language might seem trivial but as media and other outlets already have strong gender stereotypes. This means it is up to educators who have an opportunity to encourage and teach diversity.
Males provide a balance in teaching - some children live with their mother and then go to day care where there is only female teachers. Males have a different approach to teaching especially to their perception of children taking risks.
With work and awareness from educators I hope we can see a shift in people's thinking which will lead us to live in a more diverse world where anyone can be anything they want to be. I would love to hear your thoughts.
All photos downloaded from the free stock photo website pexels.com