Three recent newspaper articles which made me slightly sad, and a little concerned.
The first, by UNICEF, stated that UK children were among the most unhappy children in the World. The second concerned increases in the divorce rate among parents with young children. Finally, a report from the General Teaching Council said that no young male teachers were to be found in the state maintained nursery sector.
It is widely accepted that children respond to stability, especially in the early stages of development. Further, their parental bonding, usually with both male and female models, sets their own primary source of gender understanding.
When this parental bonding is placed at risk through divorce, much of that gender role modelling disappears. The role of the father in shaping discipline changes into a more benign acquiescence during weekend visits, there often only being time to indulge, not restrain.
It is surprising that no male nursery teachers under 25 were to be found in the state maintained sector. It must be accepted that few nurseries have a balanced number of men on their staff. We, for example only have seven men within a workforce of around 500 - but this is much better than none.
Certainly, we all know some parents do take issue with young men in childcare, but this prejudice is often quite shallow, and can be overcome. I remember judging an award for the best nursery carer of the year a few years ago where a remarkable young man was one of the finalists. When I quizzed him about the issue of prejudice, he told me that some of the fathers of children in his care were 'suspicious' at first, but when they realised he played back row for a major West Country rugby club their fears subsided. They were then more interested in seeing if he could get cheap tickets for the games. This does not spell a deeply ingrained prejudice to me.
In my opinion, especially at the pre-school stage, male employees are becoming more and more important. We cannot change trends regarding divorce, but we can attempt to fill the gender modelling gap that divorce often produces by providing alternative role models.
I know most, if not all, the major providers have a very open policy when it comes to attracting men into the sector. I wonder if it is not time for the maintained sector to examine its own recruiting policies a little more carefully.
- Alan Bentley is chairman of the Childcare Corporation.