Men in Nursery

Men in Nursery

by: emma_m - 06-09-05 09:29

hi. i have been watching the topic carefully, and am intersted in reading everyone elses views. up until the last 6 months i had never worked in a nursery with men, but just before the summer we had a male student placed in my room (baby room) and also a student teacher took over the preschool for the summer. at first i was a little unsure, but they both proved me wrong, and were wonderful with the children. the children in both rooms really took to them. some of the parents also seemed unsure, but were quickly reassured when they saw how much the children got out of them being in the setting. they are both greatly missed now they have left.

by: johnr

hi iam john iam a male nursery assisstant starting my level 3 in january all though i didi the nneb two yrs ago but left after 15 mnths for personal reasons i love my job i really do i think it is great a man being theer all i receive is positive feedback from parents about me which is great any one with any questions email me johnredgrift780@hotmail.com or pop a message on here we need a men in childcare day again to get more men in any one from wirral email me with ways we could do it

Men in Nursery - 13-09-05 21:35

by: Emma24

I'm male, have my NVQ3 and will be head of babies in the next week or so at my workplace.
There is one other male who works with us and he is fantastic with the children.

As am I to be honest.

Men in Nursery - 15-09-05 12:46

by: Nick243

Hi, I am a seventeen year old student currently studying a child care diploma. In the class of about thirty students, i am the only male but it doesnt concern me in the slightest. I hope more and more males will start entering the profession. I honestly cannot wait to start my teaching roles in however many years that maybe, a challenge? i would say more of an excitement!

Men in Nursery - 20-09-05 20:29

by: NeilD

Hi,

I am have run a Day Nursery for just over a year and find that the reaction from Parents and children is superb. Initially I was worried about what maybe said but everyone has been supported.

Do not worry about national hype and newspaper gossip.

Men in childcare work!

Men in Nursery - 21-09-05 10:59

by: agrant

Must say I totally agree. There are great benefits in having more men in childcare.

Men in Nursery - 22-09-05 23:12

by: jrmassey_7

Hi, i am back, i have read all the replys on this message and have found it very interesting, i thought i would have a little update, i did complete my level 2 course and on my way to do the new NVQ 3 in a primary school. so i have found working in the primary school as a nursery nurse and play worker has many benfits for the children, just one case of the top of my head, a little boy has never know a male role figue before because his dad died young, and he like the support he gets from me in class which is quite,

Men in Nursery - 29-09-05 14:23

by: smoore

Hi! I'm Shane - 20yrs. I will be starting my career as a male in childcare on the 14th November 05'. The nursery will be brand new and will be taking children 0-5yrs. My position will be as a Trainee Nursery Nurse & I'm really looking forward to it. Although I have 6 years experience looking after my Nieces & Nephews ranging from 6 months - 9 years I would love anyone who has any ideas or activities to either post a message here or email me at shanemoore05071985@yahoo.co.uk. Many Thanks x

Men in Nursery - 30-09-05 15:49

by: johnr

for a start shane looking after your neice and nephews is nothing like being a trainee nursery nurse i have been a nursery nurse for 5 yrs now iam a male callerd john i love my job good luck mate work hard and dont let ppls comments which they will comment get ya down good luck

Men in Nursery - 30-09-05 21:09

by: honeytree

Hi Shane, I think its great that ur doing ur training, we def need more male nursery nurses! We hav a male nursery nurse at the nursery i work in and the children love him!
Do u know what age group u will be working with? I look after the 1-2's and i love doing painting with them as many of them dont do it at home, baked bean play is a good one too!!
Good luck!

Men in Nursery - 01-10-05 21:18

by: crusty clown

Hi shane the children i work with love to do splatter painting, gloop, nethin messy is gr8. strip the children and do water play with them add water play equipment. Do focused and non focused activities, go out 4 walks 2 the park, let the kids c the world thats one thing i miss bwt being in a nursery, it's hard to get out c ing the cars, lories, motorbikes they love it go whenever u can datz my advice.X

Men in Nursery - 05-10-05 16:43

by: Jin

My old catering manager was a man and all the staff and children loved him. We never had any complaints from the parents but then he wasn't changing their nappies (although that shouldn't make any difference.) I think we need more men in the nurseries for our own sanity. Too many women in one place can become bitchy but we also need some male totty ;-) I say, bring on the men!!!!

Men in Nursery - 13-10-05 18:31

by: emzybabes

Hello iam new to this site iam 16 and ive just started a training course in childcare myself. Ive also woundered that aswell! why they were no men attending they where one guy but thy wouldnt give him the job bcoz he was a man not a woman i think thy should be more man the kid should have men and woman not just woman all the time. I would say it not far of men who wants to work with child!

Men in Nursery - 16-10-05 16:28

by: lesleyc1

This is the first time I've posted anything on this website but this is a issue I feel really strongly about. I work in a school for children with special needs, children aged 3-11yrs. Due to the nature of the children staffing is very high and in total,including extra support, there are about 55 staff....ALL of which are women!!! Yes that's everyone from all rankings! I can't speak on behalf of the many males out there that may be interested in working with young children, but my inital guess at why there are so few men working in early years education would be that it is so female dominated. In my experience this was shown very early on,considering my BTEC was taught, co-ordinated and examined by females, so wasn't exactly portrayed as particularly inviting for males, in my opinion. There were no males on the course and it was quite late on in my course, bearing in mind i worked week in college, week in placement, that i came across a male working within the setting, unfortunatley even then it was with the older children. Is there still a stigma/stereotype re: men working within early years? Now every person I currently work with, yes all 54 of them, would welcome male staff into the setting, many of them providing the same reasoning behind it; THE CHILDREN NEED MALE ROLE MODELS! Some of the children may not have a male role model outside of the setting and this is the only chance they have.
Surely once this barrier begins to break and more male staff begin to work back in the early years, all the stigmas/stereotypes will begin to dissappear. Then by the time the children from the early years setting are school leavers themselves, it won't seem 'unusual' to them that their male friends are going onto a nursery nursing course, because they remember their early years practioner/s.................INFORTUNATELY IT'S BREAKING THOSE BARRIERS FIRST THOUGH!

Men in Nursery - 16-10-05 16:33

by: lesleyc1

oohh yeah and how could i forget it would definatley curb the bitchiness!!

Men in Nursery - 16-10-05 16:45

by: lesleyc1

Hi shane
Messy is always gud an always works whatever the ages! this is good for bodyparts! We - either ask for spare clothes, shorts , t-shirt whatever, stuck a huge piece of paper to the floor and put lots of pots, trays and bowls with differnt coloured paint. We put lots of different brushes and sponges out and rolled up trousers and sleeves and just let the children go for gold! The kids had a great time, footprints, armprints, handprints, fingerpainting and the brushes were there for those who wern't so keen on getting covered. We took loads of photos which showed how much fun they were having and then, extra footprint and handprints and used these all afterwards to display the children's work. It's always commented on and it's all the children's own work, whatever their ability, and it works!

Men in Nursery - 25-10-05 22:40

by: newsetting

Hi WellInever,

could you please let me know where you have compilied your statistics from? I would be interested to know which study shows that a certain percentage of men are more "pervy" (as you eloquently put it) than women? I await your answer with interest.....

Regards,

Men in Nursery - 26-10-05 10:19

by: joshuajones

Wellinever,
The name suits you, I think it should be wellineverdidliveinthe realworld.
We already do proper checks on all staff, and if you have ever seen a CRB form that comes back with a query on it you would know that.
Men will continue to be dogged by predjudice as long as there are people like you in the world.
The main reason why there are not more men in childcare is simply an issue of money,we all know nursery nursing does not on the whole pay a main wage earner enough to support a family.

Men in Nursery - 26-10-05 21:42

by: joshuajones

wellinever
I rest my case and that of newsetting. You really do live in another world, van drivers, bar workers, waitresess, dust men, shelf stackers, shop workers, checkout girls, most of them earn more than Nursery Nurses and we all know it. The most common cry of nursery nurses is "I can get paid more stacking shelves in Tesco" and the sad thing is they are not joking. Even people working in MacDonalds can earn better pay.

Men in Nursery - 28-10-05 16:00

by: rdixon

I must admit that I have never worked with males in a nursery setting before.However it would be nice for both staff and children to have a male early years worker within an early years setting. For many reasons.

Men in Nursery - 28-10-05 16:14

by: rdixon

What can I say wellinever! Fair point that your views are your views but you sound so angry. I feel sorry that your views are so narrow minded...I understand what you are saying but goodness me, what world are we creating for children? As a nursery nurse i pride myself on promoting a positive environment on not sterotyping!At the moment I'm at uni and there is a male in the class who as worked with children.It upsets me that people like you are putting him in the same light
as child abusers!!!

Men in Nursery - 30-10-05 00:29

by: crusty clown

Quote not all men are wa***rs hello start living in the real world guys some of you have got it spot on like rdixon and others you need a lesson in men uin childcare, the presence of a man in a childcare setting is nice it is great for the children to have a male role model as well as a woman and what the heck do they do CRB checks for anyway if they are done properly they cannot fail stop stereotyping and get with it those of you who think men need checking twice your wrong and views men are more pervy than women, how do you know that where does it state that maybe lets check women twice too then shall we now what response would women give to that. I have a male friend in childare also and i tell you he loves the children and some of you are so wrong you would not beleive.

Men in Nursery - 31-10-05 17:31

by: Joanne123

Hi I am a student at college studying a Diploma in Early Years. In my class we have 20 odd female student nursery nurses. this year, 6 boys joined the course. All is good and well until college tried to find placements for them in nurseries and found it incredibly difficult because nowhere would take them! i think it's disgusting! All Early years settings would definately benefit from having more male role models.

Men in Nursery - 31-10-05 18:00

by: joshuajones

Hi joanne123,

It really saddens me when I hear stories like yours, I am an employer and have been for many years , and I am always delighted when men apply. But I know from experience not many applications are forth coming. We need men in nurseries for lots of reasons, all of which benefit both the children and the staff.

Men in Nursery - 12-11-05 16:35

by: BenSinger

I've been a Nursery Assistant for approximately two years now, and have worked in two nurseries. I have been lucky enough to be valued highly and supported by my employers past and present. I receive positive feedback from most parents and really love my job! I have been asked on more than one occasion not to change certain children's nappies, to which I agreed, understanding from a statistical veiwpoint, the reason why.

However that didn't stop me from feeling bad about it, and anyway, am I a trusted member of staff or not? I know I am, but what does this message give out to other Male practitioners?
And how silly! As all Nursery workers will know, working with children can present many situations whereby a carer could have an opportunity to abuse a child. Saying 'you can't change that child's nappy' seems rather ridiculous!

I've since found out that if a nursery was to force a Male employee into agreeing to this measure, it would be against the law. However that employer can ASK instead, and like I did, the employee may except.

I do occasionally feel annoyed by my Female colleague's comments regarding Men.
"typical of a Man"
seems to pop out of mouths without them really realising. I am so careful about voicing veiws that could be taken as chauvenistic by my colleagues and other Women. But wonder how careful they think they are being, or even if they are.

Two major reasons there aren't enough Men in childcare:

1: Rubbish Money!

2: Finding yourself with no other Males to talk about these things with. Feeling like you can't raise issues concerning gender through fear of being labelled a chauvenist.

Discuss!

Men in Nursery - 12-11-05 16:35

by: BenSinger

I've been a Nursery Assistant for approximately two years now, and have worked in two nurseries. I have been lucky enough to be valued highly and supported by my employers past and present. I receive positive feedback from most parents and really love my job! I have been asked on more than one occasion not to change certain children's nappies, to which I agreed, understanding from a statistical veiwpoint, the reason why.

However that didn't stop me from feeling bad about it, and anyway, am I a trusted member of staff or not? I know I am, but what does this message give out to other Male practitioners?
And how silly! As all Nursery workers will know, working with children can present many situations whereby a carer could have an opportunity to abuse a child. Saying 'you can't change that child's nappy' seems rather ridiculous!

I've since found out that if a nursery was to force a Male employee into agreeing to this measure, it would be against the law. However that employer can ASK instead, and like I did, the employee may except.

I do occasionally feel annoyed by my Female colleague's comments regarding Men.
"typical of a Man"
seems to pop out of mouths without them really realising. I am so careful about voicing veiws that could be taken as chauvenistic by my colleagues and other Women. But wonder how careful they think they are being, or even if they are.

Two major reasons there aren't enough Men in childcare:

1: Rubbish Money!

2: Finding yourself with no other Males to talk about these things with. Feeling like you can't raise issues concerning gender through fear of being labelled a chauvenist.

Discuss!

Men in Nursery - 13-11-05 21:08

by: joshuajones

Hi bensinger,
you are right, stopping a man from changing a child's nappy is ridiculous, and again you are right, if an employer forces you into this situation they are falling foul of the Equal opportunities law. However, we do have a duty to uphold parental choice.
You as an adult can make a choice, if for example you were to go to hospital and needed to have your nether regions examined, the doctor/nurse turns up and it is a woman. You, as an adult have the right to say, sorry I don't want you to look at my bits, I want a man. The hospital have to accept your choice. As a child you cannot make that choice, things are done to you whether you like it or not, face wiped, nose wiped, dressed, undressed etc. The only people that can look out for you are your parents, so if they make a choice that they don't want a man looking at your nether regions, for what ever reason, who are we to say they are wrong ? Difficulkt and demoralising I accept, but a part of society thinking these days.
I have employed several men in my nurseries over the past 15 years and will continue to do so. We need more men in day care, but again you are right untill the pay improves this will not happen.

Men in Nursery - 14-11-05 19:03

by: xxjellybabyxx

i have a male nursery assistant working within my room. we work in a room 2-3 year olds, and is undergoing his nvq level 3. his acceptence within the nursery by the parents has been outstanding, but we get the odd comment. even tho he has 2 little children of his own who he has be given full responsibility for by the courts, there are still only a few parents who can make it awkward for both him and the company. like he said he didnt come into the job for the money, i mean who woiuld, but he came into for the love of the job. like i told a few parents, what is the difference with a female wanting to work in a male environment i. e being a hgv driver! soon put a stop to thier comments anyway....

Men in Nursery - 24-11-05 15:14

by: LouiseD

I am on the third year of a child and adolescent studies degree and I am also doing my dissertation on the under representation of males in early years settings. Reading all of your comments has been very helpful for my research. I have worked with children of various ages for ten years and am always pleased to work alongside men. I feel that they bring a different dimension to the setting and to the care of the children. Over time we can show sceptics what men can offer and break down the social boundries to encourage more men into the sector.

Men in Nursery - 29-11-05 17:59

by: ballk0701

i think that it is very important to have men working with early years settings. i have not had to opportunity to see many men working within practices, but children will benefit from having a variety of role models around them.

Men in Nursery - 11-12-05 17:19

by: clare bridget

I am currently on a founation cfcc course in my college. And its all girls, i think there should be more diversity in both boys and girls do childcare. Male can do justas god job a girls in childacare. in fact if you think some parents are in fact mlae or dads who look after thier child when mother is working and they seem to care and have much responsibillity for the child .
so if they can do that then surely, there must be space for them in the working world if childcare too then we can all work together.
and my college atpresent is starting to follow though we dont get much male intrest we are trying to get both sexes into girls courses that might be of intrest.

Men in Nursery - 29-12-05 22:45

by: dismy

hi
my name is Diane Smy, I think there is not enough men in our profession, I run my own Pre School and would welcome a man on my staff, I think you will be a great attribute to any school, i have a friend who started his NVQ 3 in childcare but gave up because he couldnt handle remarks from other students, this is a real shame as he is fabulous in the classroom. Well done and keep up the good work.
Di.
x

Men in Nursery - 31-12-05 10:30

by: johnr

wellnever what you are suggesting is sexist and discrimination i work with children in a 60 place private day nursery i love my job does make me a bad person no it makes me a good nursery nurse one who we need more of people like you are sad and pathetic

Men in Nursery - 05-01-06 14:47

by: Faye M

i have worked in a nursery before for work experience and although i have only just turned 16 i have very strong views on the system, i believe that there are not enough males working in the system and i feel that my coulegues would prefer to have the male species around, mit is also more beneficial to the childrens development to see both the male and female gender working along side for future references.

Men in Nursery - 11-01-06 21:20

by: Les Abel

I am a male and have been working in childcare for over 2 years now and love my job. I am also working with my local council (Rotherham) on a project called men who dare....childcare. This provides support for men working in or considering childcare as a career. The scheme is very successful and would do wonders to raise the numbers of men in childcare if it was implemented in other areas. The current figures show that men make up just 1% of the childcare workforce (day care trust website) the government has set a target to raise this figure to 6% but why stop at 6% wouldn't there be uproar if these figures related to women’s place in any other workforce? And exactly what are they doing to achieve this target? Not a lot from what I can see. What is needed is the government to encourage all councils to set up schemes similar to the one we have to provide support and encouragement to all men. The government also needs to support this in a similar way to the recruitment drive run for teaching. Including nationwide advertising and some kind of incentive and reward (financial would be nice) for men who do dare similar to the golden hello for teaching. Only then will we see equality in the profession. This equality is important for our children’s sake

Men in Nursery - 16-01-06 10:30

by: kinder

I am a male who has worked in care for 18 years. I have also worked as a care manager for older people but returned to child care three years ago to take up post as a Business Manager in a private day nursery. We have provision for 60 children and my role is both challenging and rewarding. Its a great shame that there is not as many male nursery nurses as there are male nurses in Hospitals.
During my careeer I have completed NVQ 4 a BTEC in social services management and the NVQ RMA, I am currntly studying NVQ 5. I have only met one other bloke attending college and he was a nursery manager/owner. However while attending the SureStart Business Succes for Childcare training I bumped into quite a few chaps. One was a nursery manager and the rest were owners. The nursery nurse image as a career needs to be seen as a developing role with wider scope for specialising; for example into management, SENCO, practioning and child care business support. With the onset of so many SureStart centres providing competition. It makes good sence to employ a child care business manager whether they be male or female.

Men in Nursery - 19-01-06 10:34

by: NeilC

I am glad to see most people are positive about men being in a child caring environment. I am currently training to become a child carer alongside my wife who is already a childminder.Any advice or information i could get would be greatfully recieved.

Men in Nursery - 26-01-06 09:34

by: michaeld

Well! This certainly is a hot topic! Personally i think it's great to see such a diversity of opinions here and I'm glad that this issue is in the forefront of peoples minds. I've been a qualified Nursery Nurse for the last five years and have worked in a Day Nursery and now work in the NHS...... and yes, I am a man. My personal experience working in a nursery as the sole male has been nothing but positive. I have felt valued by parents and staff and strongly believe that the children have benefited from having a man to relate to. As a profession we spend a lot of time and effort ensuring that hte children we care for experience life to the full, however I feel we are being grossly negligent when we deprive them from making stong, positive, relationships with open, caring men. In saying this I do not mean that we need feminised men in this field. The way in which men care for children is different from women and this should not be something to be shyed away from. There is nothing that a man brings to the role that a women cannot, but it is imeasurably important that children see a man doing it. I am dedicated to making progress with this issue and have been researching a number of localised projects in England and Scotland and am keen to hear from people who share this interest. Therefore I would like to hear from any of the guys and girls on this message board, (researchers, Nursery Nurses etc) with a view to making a difference in this area. My email is michaeldolling at hotmail dot co dot uk. Please email me

Men in Nursery - 26-01-06 11:46

by: michaeld

Ok, I've just read through all the posts on this subject and I think they are really revealing. Especially those from wellinever. I'm really glad she voiced her opiions as this is a real issue within our society. The truth of the matter is that numbers of convicted sexual offenders is not representative of the risk that men present in a childcare setting. Cases of female sexual abuse on children are only recently being uncovered but it does happen. The point we need to see is that these cases are a tiny minority of people of both sexes. Obviously this means we need to be stringent in our checks (which I have to say we are not at the momment as people still slip through the net) but more importantly all childcare workers need to be open to the possibility of reporting abuse within the nursery when ever and who ever is involved. This is our best chance of truely safeguarding children. However if we start discouraging or excluding men from the caring environment, the damage we are doing to the children, by restricting their opportunities is far greater than I think we acknowledge. If we are to bring about change in society we have to start with the children, and that is the wonderful thing about this work. If they do not see men as caring trustworthy individuals how can we ever expect them to form these relationships with men in the future. The implications are far reaching and I think it is time we saw beyond the media hype around peadophilia and started to except men (such as the ones on this site) as individuals. My respect goes out to Bensinger, Les Abel, jrmassey_7, smoore, joshuajones, Mark W, rbyoung, FunkyMonkey, johnnygee, nannynick, philnneb, johnr and Pirbright.

Men in Nursery - 26-01-06 18:10

by: daniel.harvey

i am a man currently working in child care and LOVE the job i love what i do and get lots of job satisfaction and i also agree more men are needed

Men in Nursery - 03-02-06 18:07

by: jrmassey_7

well, it has been along time since i first post my comment on here, and i would like to say thank you to everyone so fair who has add to it since, since moving from the school nursery to the other end of the school, for career experience, i would like to say i don't regert going into child education, i wish now to take it up to a degree level. all i can say since working with child i have seen a positive responds from parents, collegues and child alike, Keep your hard work up people,
Jason

Men in Nursery - 09-02-06 16:36

by: LouiseD

Does anybody have any views about why men don't go into child care professions? Opinions from men would be particularly helpful. Please only reply if you don't mind me using your message in my dissertation!
Thanks.

Men in Nursery - 13-02-06 09:36

by: joshuajones

Hi Louise

It is simply a case of economics. Nursery Nurses pay is poor, as we all know. In no way does it reflect the important job that we do. Salaries for the most part are ok as a second salary, but not as a main earner. It is refreshing to see that there are more men coming into senior positions within nurseries, but that is because the pay is better.

Men in Nursery - 13-02-06 12:51

by: toystoyou

Hi
I'm not in childcare but I just wanted to comment on your post.
My daughter is in key stage 1 and has a male teacher. The whole class adores him. And they have all benefitted from having him in their lives this year especially my daughter. Her father isn't with us and through her male teacher she is learning how to be around a man all day. She has learnt a lot from having a male teacher and thus a male influence in her life. I think more men should be childcare and primary education especially now as more and more children are being raised without fathers.
Hope you're all having a good day.
Julie
www.toys-to-you.co.uk
Toys with Integrity

Men in Nursery - 20-02-06 16:15

by: iggyfishtank

The influence of parents is a key issue. If we were to implement every prejudice parents had then where would we be? We would be reinforcing the idea that the man is a danger. Nothing more. It is not parental choice it is only reinforcing wrong and outdated ideas.

If a parent said they didnt want a man to change a nappy or take a child to the toilet and we agreed what message are we sending? If they said i dont want that black woman to work with my child would we indulge those prejudices?
Could someone please tell me the difference.

I also do not agree that there is some double checking needed. Well, if it were possible at all in the first place. Until a 'minority report' style device is availiable for seeing the future you will never be able to tell what someone is going to do in the future. What 'double checks' can be done?

Men in Nursery - 20-02-06 16:19

by: iggyfishtank

...oh, and i am a man doing a degree in the early years. The course has been going for 5 years and i will be the only man to complete it from start to finnish. One joined @ the 2nd year and two dropped out after the first year about 3 years ago.

The reason not many men take it up. A mixture of not being able to do the job through 'parental choice' and economics. It does not pay well. One advantage for men in the early years is a 'glass elevator'. It gives them a rapid rise to the top of the profession and that is why you tend to find men working in management roles and leading settings....and they are good at their job of course.

My dissertation is on attitudes to men in the early years so i am going to be stealing your thoughts...from the forum obviously.

Men in Nursery - 27-02-06 12:59

by: AngelHelp

I have to say in my 11 years of being qualified i've worked with 3 very amazing men through the nurseries that i ahve worked in. One of them was so poppular with the children that i would be reading a story and he would come in to work to say hi and the children would ask if they could go and say hi to him.
I think that it is fantastic as was said in a thread above so many children are growing up without fathers or male influences in there live that they have to learn from somewhere.

But there is a said siad to this, when i was training there was a very lovey guy on our course and he loved his children and showed this in his work and the activities that he planned during placement. he helped my on so many occassions then one day he came in and was showing everyone his course work on a messy activity that he had done and the girls in the class lauched at him calling him all sorts he got so upset that he left 1 year into the nneb and never returned. I still keep in contact but he now works in an office and he hates his job.

Just goes to show it takes one women to say something and all hell breaks lose. We need to be more supportive and welcoming not watching all the time.

Men in Nursery - 12-03-06 17:26

by: Daveyt

I am a male about to start as a nursery assistant. So far ive been working as a volunteer in a reception class at a primary school. I absolutly love it, and the parents love that they have a male working with their children. Children need some sort of positive male role model in their lives, as some dont have this at home. In summary, ive found something that im really good at and enjoy everyday. More men should get into this profession!

Men in Nursery - 14-03-06 22:20

by: jimt

Hi, I believe men have a vital role to play in the nursery setting, not just for the children but also to a new dimension to the staff room and to bring fresh ideas to the planning. It has been proven that men and women think differently. This means that having men involved can only add to the diversity of the nursery setting. I have only recently achieved an HNC in childcare and during my training (30 months) I recieved nothing but support from tutors,nursery staff,parents, my own family and the children in my placement really enjoyed having a man in the nursery. So I am fully committed to encouraging other men into childcare because of my positive experiences.

Men in Nursery - 23-03-06 11:20

by: FootieFan

WOW, I have just come across this topic by chance by searching the 'net' for opinions of men in childcare, very interesting. I would love to work in Nursery School, but don't feel that it is something that I have an option to do. My wife has worked in the same Nursery now for around 15 years and I have always joked that I would like her job! I am CRB checked and have helped at my oldest son's school and also helped with Open Days, Fun Days and other events at my wife's Nursery. Her boss has even said that she would employ me there if I got qualified! However, I worry about what parents might think and whether this could cause problems. 'wellinever' brought up comments which, although offensive in some ways, I am sure many people who put their children into Nursery would agree with, and that is the worry. I would not want to be the cause of bad publicity of concerns of parents at any Nursery, and the 'teasing' you might get whilst at college etc would also deter me from feeling comfortable doing it. I am very comfortable with children, and have 2 myself, both of which I was the primary carer for whilst my wife went back to work at the Nursery. I collect my wife each day and interact with many of the children there, some of which always approach me when I arrive. I do think I could do the job, but have never followed things up due to what I think other people's opinions would be. Also, I am now 35 years old, and whilst it would seem no problem in your 20's, I do think that if I started this now, I would certainly be looked upon as some sort of 'perve' and I believe that notion would always be there. Nobody questions a male teacher who has a reception class at primary school, so why indeed should there be a problem for men dealing with children a couple of years younger. Does ayone out there think there should be an age limit for a man to do the job?

Men in Nursery - 23-03-06 14:42

by: joshuajones

You are in a slightly more difficult position than a younger man but don't be put off. If you were a Bio- Physicist earning 100k a year and wanting to come into childcare for little over the minimum wage, all sorts of alarm bells would probably ring !! However if you have been at home with your children and not doing some high paid, high powered job, enjoyed your children and joining in with their activities you have a good grounding for childcare. You would not have to go to college, you could do your NVQ which is work based, you don't need to be in paid work to do this as long as you can get a placement, voluntarily, to be able to be judged on your performance. Find a training provider and ask your wifes boss if she would take you on as a volunteer or as a paid trainee. If you really want to do it, then go for it, you've got another 35 years left to work so you might as well do something you want to do and enjoy.
Good luck

Men in Nursery - 25-03-06 07:04

by: FootieFan

Thanks for your encouragement, it's certainly food for thought. I wonder if

Men in Nursery - 28-03-06 10:54

by: widgit

I have been trying to employ a male memeber of staff for sometime now. I interviewed one man for the last position that came up, but he wasn't right for our team which was a shame. I really think there should be more men in childcare.

Men in Nursery - 28-03-06 22:07

by: FootieFan

My wife's boss has said she would be happy to take me on for my placement/experience as she knows me so well, so I am giving serious thought to obtaining a Level 2 NVQ. I do wonder through how long I could work in childcare as I am already 35 and a man may be less accepted by parents once he gets to 40+, I'm not sure. My wife thinks I may be better to move onto a Teaching/Classroom Assistant position in a school for the long run, but I have always found the moulding years of 2-5 the most rewarding with bringing up our own children. Our now 7 year old has been through my wife's Nursery, and our soon to be 2 year old will start soon also. I shall be doing some serious thinking anyway. Not haveing to attend College regularly makes it more appealing as I wouldn't have to deal with the remarks and sniggers from younger women doing their qualification.

Men in Nursery - 29-03-06 08:32

by: newsetting

Good luck! Childcare needs more committed, caring individuals such as yourself regardless of sex, age or anything else. I really hope you go for it!

Men in Nursery - 29-03-06 11:12

by: joshuajones

parents will see a dedicated, mature gentle man looking after their children regardless of your age. Stop trying to talk yourself out of it. We need more men in childcare. Good luck

Men in Nursery - 25-04-06 15:14

by: hullcoll

We have just had a staff meeting at Hull College and we want to try to attract more men into the profession.
Can you offer any suggestions that you feel would encourage men into the profession.
Linda