Our Position on Teacher Gender and What we Have Done

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Men In Early Childhood Education National Summit. Minister Chris Hipkins standing centre. Dr Sarah Alexander (organiser) seated front left.

The OECE’s position on teacher gender.

Our position on teacher gender is that men must be recruited into early childhood teaching as well as women.

We believe that the current gender imbalance in staffing in early childhood services hampers efforts to achieve high quality learning and care for children. 

What we have done 

We have been at the forefront of raising awareness of gender discrimination and developing arguments for men in childcare and teaching. 

We have taken action, including:

  • Supporting men to have a voice in the sector and raising awareness of issues
  • Undertaking a national survey on ECE sector participant views concerning bringing more men into ECE and what benefits (or not) this would have.  The survey revealed that it that better representation of men in teaching would:  be of benefit to children’s learning and social development, raise quality within the sector in various ways including improving staff dynamics by having a mixed gender team, and help Dads feel more comfortable staying with their child and participating in the ECE programme.
  • Encouraging more men into early childhood teaching. We provide the “Men in ECE Invitation Award”.  Men need to be invited into ECE teaching.  This Award is one way our sector shows men that they are welcomed.  Find Go to the Invitation Award page to learn more.

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