Men are a clear under-represented group within early years education and childcare, and discriminatory practice is commonplace. Yet the UK’s poor record on male-inclusive recruitment and retention in the sector has been allowed to continue for well over a quarter-century, and there has been little effort from successive Governments to address these challenges. This problem … Continue reading Why isn’t the UK doing more to recruit male early years practitioners?
MITEY men: 1.2% as useful as female soldiers?
In our latest article for the Early Years Educator journal (July 2023 edition) we ask a semi-serious question: How was the Ministry of Defence, in 2019, able to find £2.5 million to spend on marketing careers in the military to women, while at exactly the same time the DfE could only stump up £30,000 for … Continue reading MITEY men: 1.2% as useful as female soldiers?
Still at 3%: a quarter-century of inertia
In 1998 England’s early years workforce was 2% male. The figure is now 3% (Source: Survey of Childcare and Early Years Providers (2021) summarised on page 82 of this DFE report). So 2023 marks 25 years of almost no progress – at a national level at least – towards a more gender-diverse early years sector. … Continue reading Still at 3%: a quarter-century of inertia
One man’s MITEY story
Sometimes a piece of feedback catches you off-guard and makes you realise that what you do is worthwhile. Below is an email we received last week, from a practitioner we’ve never met or worked with, but who has obviously been touched by our work. We share it here simply because we are really proud to … Continue reading One man’s MITEY story
MITEY + PACEY: Together for Two
As part of the Department for Education funded Together for Two Project in England, we were invited by PACEY (the Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years) to partner with them in challenging perceptions about childcare roles, delivering careers-in-childcare sessions, and talking directly to Job Centres about the opportunities that are available to men. Find … Continue reading MITEY + PACEY: Together for Two
A letter to Nick Fletcher MP
Dear Mr Fletcher Yes, we absolutely need boys to have positive role models, including teachers in early years, primary and secondary education, as mentioned in your speech at Westminster Hall, subsequent Twitter statement and in media articles like this from Sky News. But it’s unhelpful to make this about replacing ‘absent fathers’, who are far … Continue reading A letter to Nick Fletcher MP
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