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Recruiting Male Volunteers to Build Staff Diversity - Men in Child Care (Part 1)

by Bruce Cunningham
September/October 1998
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Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/recruiting-male-volunteers-to-build-staff-diversity-men-in-child-care-part-1/5012320/

"I'd love to have a man on my staff, but where do you find them?"

"The children love it when a father visits our center. How can we get more men to volunteer?"


These are the most common statements directors make about men, or rather the lack of male staff, in early childhood settings. It is true that there are relatively few well-qualified men who can assume teaching positions in early childhood classrooms - particularly when compared to the number of similarly qualified women. Only about 3% of staff working directly with young children are men - an estimate based on the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) membership. This number is considerably lower than the 6% doing the same kind of work in the early 1970s (Robinson, 1981). Yet there are ways a program for young children can hire and retain men. While all the strategies for doing this will not be appropriate for all types of programs, there are compelling reasons for every program to recruit and retain male staff.

The Case for Men

Common sense tells us that children need to spend time in the company of both men and women to form healthy, realistic images of adults. Young ...

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