Male teachers in early childhood education: issues and case study

Much of the debate about the desirability or otherwise, of attempting to address the gender imbalance in the early childhood teaching profession has been limited by a reliance on rhetoric rather than empirical evidence. The purpose of this article is to assist in shifting this debate to a more empirical basis by reporting findings from an exploratory empirical investigation of children's perceptions and gender positioning of their male preschool teacher. Children's drawings of their teacher and accompanying text generated in conversational interviews were analyzed inductively with the intent of gaining preliminary insights into whether the presence of a male teacher might challenge their gender stereotypes. Children focused mostly on typical teacher roles. Portrayals in which gender was salient reflected traditional gender roles and attributes. While it is difficult to draw definite conclusions from the study, for these children the presence of a male teacher did not appear to disrupt gender stereotypes. The article concludes with suggestions for future research.