1st Edition
Exploring Career Trajectories of Men in the Early Childhood Education and Care Workforce Why They Leave and Why They Stay
The role of men in early childhood education and care is crucial for the future of all children growing up in a gender sensitive world. Achieving greater diversity and gender balance in the workforce has proved a challenging goal, despite concerted efforts on the part of individuals, institutions, and governments around the world. Many men remain reluctant to enter the profession, and once they choose this work many leave. This book explores how men in the field make their career decisions to remain in or leave the profession.
Taking a broad international perspective and exploring the role of gender in these career decisions, contributors from around the globe unpack how gender concepts influence men’s career trajectories. Through their collaborative research, the team of 17 gender and early childhood researchers investigate various critical and relevant factors such as professionalisation, workplace environment, leadership, day to day interactions in the workplace, societal considerations, internal motivations, agency, masculinities, and critical moments in career decision making. Using cultural, racial, ethnic, and social class lenses to examine men’s career decisions over their professional lives, the contributors’ unique approach uncovers the complexity of the issue and offers evidence-based recommendations for policy both on national and local levels. These include practical suggestions to directors and managers who care about achieving a gender-mixed workforce.
Accessible and enlightening, this is a unique resource for scholars, policymakers, and any others in the education community who support boosting the inclusion of men in early childhood education.
Chapter 1 Introduction
David L. Brody, Kari Emilsen,, Tim Rohrmann and Jo Warin
Chapter 2 Theoretical perspectives on men’s choices to remain and to leave
Jo Warin, Birgitte Ljunggren and Markus Andrä
Chapter 3 A diversity of cultural and institutional contexts
Tim Rohrmann, David L. Brody and Jean-Yves Plaisir
Chapter 4 Researching men’s career trajectories in ECEC: A ross-cultural inter-researcher approach
Yuwei Xu, Jo Warin, Karen Thorpe and Tim Rohrmann
Chapter 5 Professionalization and Gender Balance
Christian Eidevald, Birgitte Ljunggren and Throsdis Thordardottir
Chapter 6 Workplace environment: Leadership and governance
Birgitte Ljungrren, Joanne McHale and Victoria Sullivan
Chapter 7 Experiences of workplace relationships as factors precipitating or preventing dropout of male educators in ECEC
Victoria Sullivan, Ramazan Sak and Karen Thorpe
Chapter 8 Societal factors impacting male turnover in ECEC
Jean-Yves Plaisir, Thordis Thordardottir and Yuwei Xu
Chapter 9 Intrinsic motivations as a factor in men’s career decisions in ECEC
Yarden Kedar, Markus Andrä and Victoria Sullivan
Chapter 10 Agency as a determinant of men’s decisions to leave or stay
David L. Brody, Markus Andrä and Yarden Kedar
Chapter 11 Masculinity, sexuality and resistance
Deevia Bhana, Yuwei Xu and Kari Emilsen
Chapter 12 Why men stay
Kari Emilsen, Jean-Yves Plaisir, Ramazan Sak and Christian Eidevald
Chapter 13 Critical moments in men’s career trajectories
İkbal Tuba Şahin-Sak, Ramazan Sak, Christian Eidevald and Joanne McHale
Chapter 14 More men in ECEC: Towards a gender-sensitive workforce – summary and conclusions
David L. Brody, Kari Emilsen, Tim Rohrmann and Jo Warin
Biography
David L. Brody is Associate Professor of Education, Efrata College of Education in Jerusalem, Israel.
Kari Emilsen is Professor in Social Science at Queen Maud University College of Early Childhood Education, Norway.
Tim Rohrmann is Professor and Coordinator for Early Childhood Education at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Hildesheim, Germany.
Jo Warin is Professor in Gender and Social Relationships in Education at Lancaster University, United Kingdom.
