I'm a male nursery class teacher, AMA

[Mrbusyteacherdad]

I teach nursery class and early years in a school setting, have done for several years. I'm the only male in school so ask anything except the name of my school!

@Onyernelly

You clearly don't understand the issues around stereotypes and career decisions and then how they impact on career development

Lol

Clearly you do.... but you chose to go down the snarky route instead 🤷🏼‍♀️

Your research sounds very interesting. As a university academic working in an education faculty I'd be interested in reading it.

I nipped out for an hour and came back to all these comments! Sorry if I don't answer all of them. Believe me I am given no special treatment by my colleagues, far from it! : D I only started the post because it's half term and I had a bit of free time. I've read mumsnet articles over the years to find advice about my son and all of his problems. I like the AMA threads and have never seen one like this so that is genuinely the only reason I posted it, not to blow my own trumpet. I absolutely love my job and I got the post on merit, filling out applications like everyone else and going through the interview post, like everyone else. I'd like to think schools are professional enough to hire someone because they are fully qualified for the job and are the right fit. Anyway, to answer some of your questions... I can't say why other men don't do this job because I'm in my own little bubble working away and don't come across any other male early years teachers so I can't ask them why they do it. I do it because I went to teacher training college for 4 years and did well on my placements and found it very rewarding. On all the parents' evenings I've had to do I can't recall any times where they have said their child likes me because I'm male, they like me because I'm a good teacher! I get on really well with people and I genuinely think that's because I work with women so there's no 'macho' chat in the setting or staff room. I work in a school and teach the nursery class so have to do the home visits etc and I love that part, seeing people's homes and listening to their stories. I cover Reception too when the teacher is off, it feels like a totally different age group with the more formal parts of the lessons. To me, my work is just a (fantastic) job but you're right I'm nothing special!

In the UK many female teachers have reported male teachers accessing early years predominately to fast track promotion.

What number is 'many'?

Short of male teachers actually admitting to their colleagues that they are gaming the system to achieve faster career progression how do female teachers know the motives of these men?

@Onyernelly

I haven’t long completed a not insignificant piece of research for my work that is about gender neutral pedagogy in the early years uk curriculum with a comparison to the Nordic model - predominately Sweden.

The findings are clear.
There aren’t enough males in early years. This is predominately because it has long since been devalued and regarded as women’s work with low status.

In the UK many female teachers have reported male teachers accessing early years predominately to fast track promotion.
The problem is that many males in early years are lauded by almost everyone because they are so unusual. They are promoted above there more qualified counterparts and not held to the same standard.

The result of my research and many other works have been very clear that males in early years are effective and much needed if they challenge stereotypes with their pedagogy.

Unfortunately what is happening in many cases in the UK is that being male bodied is enough- virtue signalling if you will.

Hence my question, how do you perform gender within your pedagogy?

But attitudes like yours will actively put men off. I get that you want men in teaching to go through a gate keeping process of whether they challenge stereotypes enough ( ), but why? My friend is the only woman in her team, she is very stereotypically girly, should she be challenging stereotypes or should she just be herself? I don't get it, open to explanation though

It's probably the pay puts men off. My brother is a secondary teacher in a deprived area and has had parents demand to know if he's gay. He said he didn't know what answer they were looking for yes? So he's not after their daughter or no because they had issues about gay peoples. He has found that if the head is female she will often champion other women, and of course the pool is bigger.

how do you perform gender within your pedagogy

What on earth does that mean?

Pedagogy = method of teaching. It's the main buzz word at the moment.

Ok what about the perform gender bit? I don't understand that.

You are brave posting on an anti male forum such as this .
I can understand reading some of these threads why men are reluctant to go into teaching, apparently there is a real shortage of male teachers which is a real shame.
I would like to ask do you think there is an expectancy for young boys to behave like young girls, as in sitting still for long periods of time etc, or do you think teachers do make allowances.

My DS is a very robust and energetic little boy and I'm a bit worried that that the young female nursery staff don't really know how to help him let off steam. I'm already anxious about the likelihood of him being labelled as naughty at school when the reality is he just needs time and space to be physical. Do you think having more male staff would help boys like this? Do you notice a difference between the way girls who sit and craft for ages are treated as good and energetic boys are labelled as problems?

Performing gender. That's about whether you stomp about burping and farting and slapping children on the back saying "nice one mate!" like a man, or float about giggling coquettishly behind your fan and swooning at spiders like a lady.
Teachers have to show non-stereotypical behaviour to avoid reinforcing stereotypes. If you have 15 women in a school you'll find some that like football, getting muddy etc. Because there's a large number it averages out and you get a mix of role models. However, if there's only one man in a school he 'represents' all men, and there's pressure for him to be the perfect non-stereotypical role model.
If a male teacher kicks a football he's reinforcing gender stereotypes. That's one of the reasons we need more men.

My questions:

What sexism have you experienced?

Any from the children? (I did a placement in a school and a girl kept calling me miss. I asked her why and she said "teachers are called Miss and headteacher are called Sir.")

Is teacher coffee normal coffee or an extra strong 'not for civilians' type the NUT provide?

I have never knowingly experienced sexism in my day to day work, though if I have I may be oblivious to it! I have never been interested in promotions to senior management so I can't say I'm using my gender to climb the ladder, though I'm all too aware of men in other schools disproportionately being heads etc. I can only answer for myself to your questions. On a typical day in my class you may see me sitting in the reading corner sharing books, building construction or dancing to music. Whichever child decides to join in, they are welcome. Yes I can see gender stereotypes happening during play, eg mostly boys building with the construction. But I also play with the dolls' prams and help boys dress into the princess outfits in role play if that's what they want to do, so hopefully I can be a role model for them. Just like I would if I was teaching Year 6. You've got to have no sense of embarrassment to do this job, especially with other colleagues watching you! Oh, and I get called 'mummy' all the time!

Ive never noticed a high number of male head teachers where I live..... All except 1 have been female in my experience. And that's throughout mine and my dcs school years!

I wonder if it varies by area.? 🤔

@DillonPanthersTexas

In the UK many female teachers have reported male teachers accessing early years predominately to fast track promotion.

What number is 'many'?

Short of male teachers actually admitting to their colleagues that they are gaming the system to achieve faster career progression how do female teachers know the motives of these men?

Anecdotally, I know of two male secondary school teachers who specifically moved to primary schools because they knew they'd have more chance of becoming a head teacher.

I know I was snipey this morning which is why I took on board what some posters said and apologised to op.

I also accept what a few other posters have said in that my attitude this morning is exactly the kind of deterrent that puts off potential EY male teachers.

So yes- I shouldn’t post cranky in the morning with bias without reflecting on what I wanted to say first.

However, I stand by my points regardless of how foolishly I made them.

Early years teaching is regarded by far to many as easy. It’s not, it’s nuanced, complex and important work.
There have been far to many instances of men accessing early years for ulterior motives and their own self interest while the female teachers and the children miss out.

I’ll post some stats when I get home.

For those interested in gender - I recommend this

www.amazon.co.uk/Masculinities-Teaching-Early-Childhood-Education/dp/1138797723?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

@Onyernelly

I know I was snipey this morning which is why I took on board what some posters said and apologised to op.

I also accept what a few other posters have said in that my attitude this morning is exactly the kind of deterrent that puts off potential EY male teachers.

So yes- I shouldn’t post cranky in the morning with bias without reflecting on what I wanted to say first.

However, I stand by my points regardless of how foolishly I made them.

Early years teaching is regarded by far to many as easy. It’s not, it’s nuanced, complex and important work.
There have been far to many instances of men accessing early years for ulterior motives and their own self interest while the female teachers and the children miss out.

I’ll post some stats when I get home.

For those interested in gender - I recommend this

]]

But surely the issue if they enter the profession thinking its easy or whatever else, is poor management if they go on to underperform. Is this unique to men anyway? I have a fair amount of friends who did primary PGCEs as they thought it would be handy to have holidays off, playing and singing for chunks of the day etc- is this an issue that contributes to many leaving in the first few years, or unique to men?

I don't really think a male nursery teacher is that unusual. I've known of two personally. I think a male nursery nurse in a childcare private day nursery setting is much more rare.

Do you ever get concerned comments from anxious parents? I really had to challenge my own sexism when my DS had a male keyworker, I kept worrying he might be a wrong'un who's chosen the job to get close to kids (in reality he was lovely and my DS's favourite person! - it's just that I'm hyper aware of the stats on male vs. female offender rates and got myself into a spiral of anxiety about it).

How do you manage to juggle being a full time working dad with being a good husband, keeping trim, having a self-care regime, all whilst preventing premature undereye bags?

How do you manage to juggle being a full time working dad with being a good husband, keeping trim, having a self-care regime, all whilst preventing premature undereye bags?

Love this question 😂😂

My DH could have written the OP. He's a great nursery class teacher because he loves working with that age group and has a fantastic team. Personally, I think he does a great job because he's a brilliant parent of three DC and uses that experience and his caring, teaching nature to make nursery enjoyable for the children. Nothing to do with his gender.

He isn't that good at keeping trim, doing the self care, and preventing the under eye bags though.

My son had a male nursery teacher at a nursery attached to a school. It's taken 3 years to build his confidence at school since as that nursery teacher always 'wasn't his friend' (my son's words) when he couldn't do the work/got something wrong.
How do you deal with meeting targets and do you realise how much impact your words and actions have on small minds?

Some snipey comments here. Male primary teachers tend to be in KS2. It’s quite rare to get a male EYFS teacher. @Mrbusyteacherdad what qualities make a good EYFS teacher?

@YellowandGreenToBeSeen

I agree with *@Onyernelly*. What difference does your sex have to do with your job? Why not just ask ‘I’m a nursery / early years teacher AMA’. Why announce your male-ness?! Is it because being MALE makes you much more knowledgeable or interesting? Give over.

I'd say it's because there's not a lot of male teachers in primary schools. My primary didn't have any male and my daughters for the 6 years she was there had none. They have just took on a male pe teacher. My mum works in primary and same there no male teachers throughout the years she has worked there.

@Pinkfairylights

Why did you post on Mumsnet?

Because why can't he? Do you only have to be female and have kids to post?