Who is the odd man out: men in early childhood settings?

Australia has, on the whole, been slow to react to many of the more innovative or welfare-oriented programs for young children and their families in the past two or three decades. We can speculate about this in terms of geographic isolation, natural caution or a population which is not appropriately tuned to the needs of parents with young children. Whatever the reason, Australia appears to be slow to respond to changes in attitude. One of the major potential areas for change in attitude is the employment of males in early childhood settings.

The history of the United States, which thirty years ago appeared to totally reject the notion of men working with young children, now records a substantial move towards encouraging males and females to assume androgynous roles in children's services.

It is interesting to note that this contemporary view has flourished in spite of the lack of empirical evidence to support previous notions relating to the role of male teachers and caregivers in terms of providing male models for fatherless children, offering more appropriate teaching strategies to young boys and providing examples of more tolerant caregivers for exhuberant boys.

While evidence suggests that prejudice still exists in U.S.A. about male teachers in early childhood settings, the androgynous philosophy appears to point the way in which early childhood services in Australia must go in order to provide a more balanced program for all young children.