Main Content
Session Information
07 SES 09 D JS, Gender, Social Class and Cultural Diversity
Joint Paper Session with NW 07 and NW 10
Contribution
Similar to the other countries all around the world, very limited number of males prefer to choose early child education because of the stereotypes about gender and work. That is to say, despite the increasing numbers of male preschool teachers in education sector in Turkey, early child education is still perceived to be a female occupation. As Sumsion (1999) stated, since early childhood is attributed to females as a career choice, men feel anxious about being falsely accused of child sexual abuse, relatively low pay and lack of career path. There has been an increasing attention to the professional identity building and experiences of women and man employees in other-gender dominated fields and occupations. One of these fields is the males as preschool teachers in a female-dominated context. According to Lerseth (2013) professional identity appears to be on a continuum which is constantly shifting and reshaping to form identity through experiences and reflections. Teacher identity refers to “a person’s individuality uniqueness, or characteristics which sets one apart, is related to teacher development in important ways”.
The sociologist Christine L. Williams who has studied men in female occupations in North America asserts that that the male minority in female-dominated jobs come across with great prejudices and often take “the glass escalator” to career positions (Williams 1995; akt. Nordberg, 2002). Recently, the professional and pedagogical tensions and career pathways of men in early childhood care and education has gained a considerable interest from scholars and researchers with its multifaceted nature in the field of educational studies. For example, Anliak and Beyazturk (2008) explored the perceptions and thoughts of male students in preschool education programs through a focus group study. They found that male students stressed the need to encourage the involvement of male teachers in preschool stage to challenge the traditioanl view of preschool teaching as a woman profession. Stroud, Smith, Ealy and Hurst (2000) documented male preservice teachers’ choice for early childhood education and their attitudes toward the traditional reasons for less favoured male career choices. Results revealed that male students seemed to choose their careers inspired by their professional educators as a role model. In a qualitative study by Sak, Kizilkay, Yilmaz and Dereli (2015), the perspectives about their teachers that are held by two groups of preschool children were compared: one being educated by male teachers and the other by female ones. It was found that regardless of teachers' gender, children felt positive feelings about their teachers and also parents of these children developed good relationships with the male teachers. Relatively, little has been known about the career journeys of male preschool teachers and their future prospects related to self-identity in a highly feminized context. The findings of this study have potential to reveal the complex and multifaceted nature of a gendered profession and some insights about the integration of gender and professional identity tensions reflecting its social, cultural and professional dimensions.
The main purpose of this study is to investigate the gender-professional identity integration of a male Turkish preschool teacher during his ten-years teaching career. Specifically, professional experiences of a male preschool teacher who is among the first male preschool teachers in Turkey will be analyzed through a qualitative study by using a semi-structured interview technique. The main themes emphasized in this study were threefold: A male teacher’s perceptions related to; a) the attitudes of education stakeholders’ perceptions towards a male preschool teacher, b) the advantages and disadvantages of being a male teacher, c) future career plans in a highly female dominated professional context.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Anliak, S., & Beyazturk, D. S. (2008). Career perspectives of male students in early childhood education. Educational studies, 34(4), 309-317. Clandinin, D. J., & Connelly, F. M. (2000). Narrative inquiry: Experience and story in qualitative research. Lerseth, K. A. (2013). Identity development among pre-service teacher candidates. Nordberg, M. (2002). Constructing masculinity in women's worlds: Men working as pre-school teachers and hairdressers. NORA: Nordic Journal of Women's Studies, 10(1), 26-37. Sak, R., Kızılkaya, G., Yılmaz, Y., & Dereli, M. (2015). Çocukların Bakış Açısıyla Erkek ve Kadın Okul Öncesi Öğretmenleri. Sakarya Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, (29), 142-162. Stroud, J. C., Smith, L. L., Ealy, L. T., & Hurst, R. (2000). Choosing to teach: Perceptions of male preservice teachers in early childhood and elementary education. Early Child Development and Care, 163(1), 49-60. Sumsion, J. (1999). Critical reflections on the experiences of a male early childhood worker. Gender and Education, 11(4), 455-468.
Programme by Network 2019
00. Central Events (Keynotes, EERA-Panel, EERJ Round Table, Invited Sessions)
Network 1. Continuing Professional Development: Learning for Individuals, Leaders, and Organisations
Network 2. Vocational Education and Training (VETNET)
Network 3. Curriculum Innovation
Network 4. Inclusive Education
Network 5. Children and Youth at Risk and Urban Education
Network 6. Open Learning: Media, Environments and Cultures
Network 7. Social Justice and Intercultural Education
Network 8. Research on Health Education
Network 9. Assessment, Evaluation, Testing and Measurement
Network 10. Teacher Education Research
Network 11. Educational Effectiveness and Quality Assurance
Network 12. LISnet - Library and Information Science Network
Network 13. Philosophy of Education
Network 14. Communities, Families and Schooling in Educational Research
Network 15. Research Partnerships in Education
Network 16. ICT in Education and Training
Network 17. Histories of Education
Network 18. Research in Sport Pedagogy
Network 19. Ethnography
Network 20. Research in Innovative Intercultural Learning Environments
Network 22. Research in Higher Education
Network 23. Policy Studies and Politics of Education
Network 24. Mathematics Education Research
Network 25. Research on Children's Rights in Education
Network 26. Educational Leadership
Network 27. Didactics – Learning and Teaching
Network 28. Sociologies of Education
Network 29. Reserach on Arts Education
Network 30. Research on Environmental und Sustainability Education
Network 31. Research on Language and Education (LEd)
Network 32. Organizational Education
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