By Sarah-Eve Farquhar

This is the original research report that first raised media and public attention to the difficulties that men experienced working in early education, and that public fear about child abuse was having an adverse effect on teachers' interactions with children and male employment.

The report presents the findings of a small exploratory study of the characteristics,  views and experiences of 20 men and 20 women working in 10 kindergartens and 10 childcare centres. 

In most respects the backgrounds and training of the male and female teachers were similar.  A key difference was that male teachers tended to be the main income earners in their household whereas for female teachers early childhood teaching provided a second household income.  The majority of men entered the profession as a result of unemployment or redundancy.  For the men early childhood teaching was a second career choice after they had tried other more traditional options.

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