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Using Reflection and Intentionality to Support Men in Early Childhood Settings

by Cecilia Scott-Croff
January/February 2021
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Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/using-reflection-and-intentionality-to-support-men-in-early-childhood-settings/5025768/

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The low participation of men in early education is a topic that fascinates me, and I decided to write this article as a challenge to myself. The research on men in early education is limited; most of it is antiquated (Wilson, 2011). Johnson (2010) maintains that more than 30 percent of elementary and secondary public school teachers were male as early as 1869. However, only 29 percent of teachers were men by the turn of the 20th century. The researchers specified that this number has decreased by 20 percent more than 50 years later. 

Over the course of 26 years I have had the privilege of working with and meeting several amazing men dedicated to the early childhood profession. Yet there are too few. In my early childhood coursework I recall one or two males. More than two decades ago, the first early childhood center I worked at employed only one man. He was the janitor, and everyone’s favorite. The children and staff adored him. We called him “Mitchy,” and he kept a little space in the back of the center. Mitchy had a huge heart for the children, teachers and ...

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