Male Nursery Staff

[NurseryMan25]

What is your opinion on Male nursery staff?
Do you think there is a benefit to men working with under 5’s?
Are you comfortable with Male staff working with your children? If not, why?

No judgement, no argument just looking to gauge opinions. Be honest.

Well like I said, no one other than my sons dad is in any kind of close proximity to my son. I actually have concerns over a close family member, and so am extra vigilant about him being around my son. So am not blinded by family meaning trustworthy. I use my judgement as a mother. Which I don’t have as much of an opportunity to do with nursery staff.

And let me be brutally honest (because I’m not sure enough people are being on here) - I am more wary around male staff than female. Because if we are going to talk statistics - they are statistically a much greater risk. I did not want my son to be in anyone else’s care until he is of an age to communicate with us like I said before. And yes of course children can be coerced into keeping secrets but I also don’t want to shelter him so much that school is a big shock to the system. He has some independence during the week in a setting which I believe to be safe and secure for him. That’s all anyone can do I suppose.

It is a sexist opinion and I’m sure I will get a lot of abuse for admitting it, but it’s just how I feel and what I’ve learned from my life experiences.

(Sorry to keep posting) I actually feel quite sorry for male childcare providers as I am sure they are scrutinised much more than their female colleagues. I agree with everything everyone else has said about it being great to have male role models around children on a regular basis.

Wouldn’t bother me at all.

I was very comfortable leaving my kids with the childminder's husband if she wasn't there (on school run or something). He is a lovely man and great father.

He didn't like being left alone with babies as afraid of allegations. He was ok with it if there were older kids there too. (Not in UK, UK registered cm laws didn't apply)

I was also comfortable leaving the kids with male and female kids club staff who were all amazing. And never alone, always at least 3 staff there.

There are 3 TA in the school giving 1:1 care to SEN kids, all TA's are male. Only 1 male teacher so I like the little bit of balance. One of the TA's also works in the after school club and the kids love him

No problem with it at all. I had a male friend who was a nursery nurse and he was fantastic, he eventually went on to train as a teacher. I would love to see more male teachers in primary school's, my son was really eager to be in the class of the only male teacher in our school, I don't think it had anything to do with the fact he was a man he was just a very popular teacher with the children.

No wouldn't bother me. DH is a SAHD and is fantastic with young children generally. I had a male childminder when I was younger.

In 2009 after the Plymouth nursery case they made a conservative estimate that 20% of suspected UK paedophiles were women and that this number was rising.

I would expect nurseries to have procedures in place so that staff are not left alone with children to safeguard the children whilst changing.

They are an asset to nurseries and a real shame not more male staff. DDchas a make nursery nurse and he was amazing, totally loved his job and the kids adored him.
We need to move past gender stereotype job roles.

Good luck OP with your research

No issue, when we visited the nursery the main nursery teacher was a man. He happened to leave in the July but it wouldn't have stopped me sending DS. The nappy. Jange is in the toilet with no door, if you go through life assuming everyone wants to abuse your child how do you ever leave the house?

We had amazing male nurses when DS was a poorly baby, they endured a LOT of assumptions about their sexuality, their sexual proclivities, their motivation. They had parents refuse to allow them to nurse their children. Which is good - meant we got them more often and DS loved them

I’m a mum and an EYP and I’d love to see more male staff.

One of my favourite workers at the nursery my kids went to was a guy, I always wished there were more. I think conditioning children of both genders to see caring for children as an exclusively female job is wrong. I would expect all staff to have the appropriate checks and follow policies around being alone with children which are there to protect both child and worker. To me the fact that nurseries have a number of staff around is a protective factor, gender is not an issue.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-45964562

Male staff was one of the selling points for me, especially as a single parent with a lack of male role models in my sons lives.

123bananas referenced the Plymouth Little Teds nursery abuse case and the likelihood that 20%+ of abusers are female.

It’s worth noting that, in the Little Teds case, a staggering 80% of the convicted paedophile ring were women: including one female nursery worker and a community care worker.

It’s apparent from the Serious Case Review into the case that Vanessa George found it very easy to abuse children at that nursery precisely because of her gender. She was seen as above suspicion because she was a woman, described by parents as "an angel" and "the perfect mother".

All anyone does by arguing that "men are statistically more likely to abuse" is create and subscribe to a climate of complacency in which it becomes significantly easier for woman to carry out abuse.

There are a few male staff at DD's nursery (nursery staff- not the managers!) and I think it's one of the good things about being there. Feels important to have both male and female role models working with the children.

Wouldn't bother me in the slightest.

There is a male worker in our sons nursery - he's deputy manager now I think but I really hope he stays on the 'shop floor'. He's great - caring, fun, professional and well liked by children and parents alike. I think it's a shame that men feel a stigma attached to childcare work as imo it's some of the most valuable work that you can do (like teaching). I wonder if the shocking rates of pay also put men off as traditionally maybe men feel they need to be earning a higher wage than their female partner or want a higher status job.

itsaboojum - well said

Standard procedure since this case include, No doors shut when changing nappies, no staff one to one, no phones all locked in cupboards, whistleblowing and supervision procedures, tightening up of safeguarding to include disqualification by association.

the no males near my children stuff is just stupid over anxiety that passes fear onto children but does not teach them how to be safe. Women are often part of these rings and are very successful because some teach children to trust them more than a man.

My youngest son had a male key worker at his nursery & he was brilliant -all the kids loved him. I wouldn't have a problem with a man working with nursery aged children in fact I think its a great shame there arent more at nursery & throughout primary school.

There should be no reason why men can't work in early years - there are so many stereotypes but at the end of the day as long as children have good, positive role models and staff are supported and managed properly then why not!

I work in a nursery myself and have done for years, not once have i worked alongside a male in the 4 nurseries that i have been at, and it’s such a shame. This isn’t through choice, i must add. None of my employers have even had a male apply for an interview whenever a vacancy was available. When studying for my degree, i came across one male working in a different setting to me who loved his job and didn’t care about possible views from stereotypes that others may have.

Occasionally, we have two male sports coaches come visit us (possibly once a month) to do something different with the children and something that we can’t really offer. We find that the children adore these young men and listen so closely to everything that they say - far more than they do to us! As staff, we’ve agreed that we believe the children behave in his way (particularly the boys) partly because it’s something different, but also because they’re male and they’re not used to having them around in their nursery environment.

I think it would be such a positive move to have more males in nurseries and think it should be discussed more openly for career paths because at the end of the day, a vast majority of men become amazing parents, so why can’t caring for other children be an “acceptable” career too?

I think another stumbling block is the wage. Typically, early years workers are paid low wages which doesn’t appeal. There’s still the stereotype in some cases of men being the “bread winner” too, so having a long hour, minimum wage job wouldn’t suffice.

Keep doing what you’re doing, ignore the ridiculous comments and i hope you find what you’re looking for in your study.

Re. The little Ted's child abuse ring;

The twice-married father of two had a ‘Svengali-like’ influence hold over four women in the ring and was described in court as the 'hub of this paedophile wheel

Find me a female paedophile/child sex abuser without a man behind it or I volved in some way ..

*involved

I am going to be totally upfront and admit I recently had to challenge my own thinking and prejudice around this.

For context I categorically wpuld and have argued that it shouldn't matter. I work in the health and social care sector and have for decades worked with both male and female who deliver personal care to both men and women. I've always maintained that it's irrelevant and provided safer recruitment and management is done with everyone it shouldn't be relevant.

What makes this worse is my male DP has for years dealt with discrimination for being male in care.

Ds2 had a male deputy manager start at his nursery. I felt uncomfortable , I genuinely had to really challenge my thinking. I did feel less safe but honestly that was entirely and utterly about social conditioning.

He's a lovely man and ds2 likes him.
I have absolutely no evidence based reason for considering him a threat to ds2.

But honestly I felt uncomfortable but make no mistake that was totally my problem and my thinking.

I detest the attitude that men are inherently predatory. I see it alot on here and I've spent many years working with both male and female offenders in situations that bring me unusually closer to their crimes. I know for a fact evil is evil , a predator is a predator irrelevant of what their genitalia is and frankly this bullshitabout a man being behind women's crimes is a horrendous bastardisation of belittling women by claiming they didn't act autonomously.

There is often more than one person manipulating in a horrific crime , both men and women.

So I admit I had a moment where my social conditioning got the better of me. But I was wrong it was wrong. There is no reason for men not to do the role and frankly if people have an issue that's their problem.

Work in some female prisons , work on the streets and you realise really fast that people commit crimes from all walks of life and all genders and all sexes, it's a fairy story to convince yourself that by avoiding men it keeps you safer ...it doesn't.

Moralitym1n1...
How's that got anything to do with male early care workers. All it shows is that women can be a risk too... Why they are doing it is irrelevant to the child concerned.

@Lichtie

I was simply responding to the views that there are female child sex abusers too (in relation to the risk of female vs males having access to children).

There may be some women out there who independently get sexual arousal and satisfaction out of sexually abusing children, but I quite honestly have never seen a case of one. There have always been men involved/instigating it.

The risk groomed women pose is indeed a separate issue; I was just making the point that that's what they generally are - groomed women, not female paedophiles.