Negotiating Otherness : A male early childhood educator's gender positioning

Sumsion, Jennifer

doi:10.1080/09669760050046174

Cited by 73 publications

(64 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Although male workers were widely welcomed, their experience was often one of marginalisation within childcare centres, similar to the position of 'otherness' reported elsewhere (King, 1998;Sumsion, 2000). In conceptualising gender difference as 'sameness'; and in constructing gender difference as opaque in comparison to 'individual' difference, (some) male workers' (occasionally but inadvertently) felt excluded.…”

Section: Marginalisationmentioning

confidence: 88%

Men in the Nursery Revisited: Issues of Male Workers and Professionalism

Cameron

2006

Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood

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Professionalising the early childhood workforce in terms of improving pay and conditions of work and employing male workers can be seen as independent trends: there is no necessary relationship between the two. However, when the definition of professionalism is extended to include the scope and quality of practice, the experiences and views of male and female workers may have a contribution to make. This article is based on revisiting a study of male and female workers in childcare centres, analysed in terms of an extended definition of professionalism. It argues that the conditions necessary for changes to practice include developing a reflective approach to practice where debate and curiosity and practice are a constant feature of daily work.

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Section: Marginalisationmentioning

confidence: 88%

Men in the Nursery Revisited: Issues of Male Workers and Professionalism

Cameron

2006

Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood

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“…Since the primary habitus is under a procedure of constant restructuring (Swartz, 1997), the pupils' dispositions to join RTP are reformed through the kindergarten teachers' intervention. In this case, the kindergarten teachers' gender-based habitus is activated and it is the latter that led them to choose the specific profession, since in Greece, as well as in other countries, early childhood is dominated by women teachers (Cooney & Bittner, 2001;Sumsion, 2000). Specifically, pre-school age is considered to be closer to female nature and to the traditional definition of female activities (Bourdieu, 2003).…”

Section: International Research In Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rough and Tumble Play and gender in kindergarten: Perceptions of kindergarten teachers

Koustourakis

Rompola²,

Asimaki³

2015

IRE

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The first purpose of this research, which was carried out using questionnaire and semi-structures interview, was to examine the types of Rough and Tumble Play (RTP) that are played in the Greek kindergarten school. The second aim of this study was to identify the kindergarten teachers' perceptions on RTP as well as their reactions in the cases that pupils are engaged in RTP in their schools. The types of RTP that pinpointed in the Greek kindergarten schools were verbal teasing, punching and hitting with or without physical contact, fighting/wrestling, pile on, chasing, spinning, tickling, rolling around, open hand slapping and protect -rescue games. The findings of the research, in which 67 female kindergarten teachers took part, suggested that the forms of RTP that include competition and intense physical contact are played almost exclusively by boys. More specifically these types of RTP are fighting/wrestling, punching and hitting, open hand slapping and pile on, which, according to the kindergarten teachers, correspond to boys and they put them in the list of the forbidden plays, as reported by the school rules they establish in their schools. Thus, when the kindergarten teachers realize that their students play some of the specific RTP intervene in order to stop it, so that there is not a possibility of injury.

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“…The majority had been left to deal with this alone and they did so by thinking about their own beliefs, or possibly by discussing it with the other men studying to become preschool teachers or happened to be close to them. Sumsion (2000b) and Broady (2015) contends that men in preschools are constantly having to negotiate their 'otherness' on the basis of not really being a 'real man' in line with some form of idea of masculinity and at the same time shaping and negotiating a new form of masculinity in a profession as preschool teacher. If one looks at Connell's idea of hegemonic masculinity, the ways masculinity is shaped by the men in this study can be seen as a hybrid of a hegemonic kind of masculinity that these men relate to, while at the same time they are shaping and negotiating other contents to masculinity, such as gender awareness and being caring.…”

Section: This Is How Oscar Described His Experience Of Working In Prementioning

confidence: 99%

Male preschool teacher students negotiating masculinities: a qualitative study with men who are studying to become preschool teachers

Heikkilä

Hellman

2016

Early Child Development and Care

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Male preschool teacher students negotiating masculinities: a qualitative study with men who are studying to become preschool teachers.Early Child Development and Care, 187 (7) AbstractThe overall interest is to understand how men who study preschool teaching negotiate masculinities. Earlier research shows how male teachers negotiate masculinities when being in and entering a predominantly feminine work area, such as early childhood education (see for example Simpson 2014, Brody 2015, Pirard, Schoenmaeckers & Camus 2015. It this article Connell's notion on hegemonic masculinity is reflected on in terms of negotiation. Semi-structured interviews with three main questions were conducted with 38 men attending the preschool teacher training programmes at three Swedish universities/university colleges. The result show two main themes for negotiation that were called 'Becoming and being a 'breaker'' and 'Coping with sticking out'. These themes and their content are presented and discussed in the article.Keywords: masculinities, male student, negotiation, preschool, early childhood education, gender IntroductionThe overall interest is to understand how men who study preschool teaching negotiate masculinities. Specifically, our aim is to analyse and explore how this negotiation is expressed through how the challenges male preschool teacher students express concerning their studies and their future profession. We will argue that these challenges relate to the conflict between how to display critical hegemonic masculinity while simultaneously being a professional preschool teacher. Further, we will argue that this conflict is demonstrated by the way these men express their position as a minority group and the expectations associated with that, while at the same time they 'break' certain male norms or notions how to be real men. These statements are discussed in this article.

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Negotiating Otherness : A male early childhood educator's gender positioning

Cited by 73 publications

References 16 publications

Men in the Nursery Revisited: Issues of Male Workers and Professionalism

Men in the Nursery Revisited: Issues of Male Workers and Professionalism

Rough and Tumble Play and gender in kindergarten: Perceptions of kindergarten teachers

Male preschool teacher students negotiating masculinities: a qualitative study with men who are studying to become preschool teachers

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