The Importance of Men Teachers: And Reasons Why There Are So Few. A Survey of Members of NAEYC.

The goals of this survey of the members of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) were threefold: (1) to describe the characteristics of NAEYC members; (2) to investigate NAEYC members attitudes about men working with young children; and (3) find out how often men apply for positions and the reasons why more men do not work in early education. Contacted for the mail survey was a random sample of 1,000 NAEYC members (450 men, 450 women, and 100 with undetermined sex based on first names) from a pool of 103,525 possible members. The response rate was 64 percent for women and 36 percent for men for a total sample of 325 women and 182 men. Among the major findings of the survey are that fewer than half of NAEYC men work directly with children compared to two-thirds of the women. Almost all NAEYC members reported that they believed it important for men to work with young children. One of six NAEYC members reported that men have applied for teaching jobs in their programs. The primary reasons men do not work in early childhood education, besides low wages, are stereotypes, fear of being accused of abuse, and low status of the profession. There were two types of jobs that 11 percent of NAEYC members believed men should not perform: toileting/diapering and being alone with children. Based on findings, recommendations for change and descriptions of effective teacher recruitment programs were devised. (Contains a 19-item bibliography.) (KB)