Published: 9:54AM Tuesday March 26, 2013 Source:
Please click on link to view on TVNZ ONE News….
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/push-get-more-males-into-early-education-5382392
- Scholarships for males studying early childhood education have now been introduced in order to boost teacher numbers.
At last count there are nearly 21,000 women working in early childhood education.
However there are only 450 men doing the same job, which is less than 2% compared to the number of women.
Early childhood network group, The Child Forum, wants to change that by offering scholarships for male trainees to pay for their training costs and provide gifts or invitation grants.
The group’s chief executive Sarah Farquhar told TV ONE’s Breakfast that the sector needs more men.
“Early childhood education is vitally important to do well and one of the key ingredients to do it well is to ensure that there is gender diversity.”
As for the fear and stigma attached to males in the profession; Farquhar said all early childhood teachers are screened before employment.
“There’s no reason to fear men entering the profession,” she said.
