Kolesnikova E.M., Kudenko I.А. Male Educators in Pre-School Education: Recognition or Anxiety? Integration of Education. 2023;27(4):646–668. https: ...

Текст статьи на сайте журнала URL: https://edumag.mrsu.ru/index.php/ru/articles/125-23-4/1127-10-15507-1991-9468-113-027-202304-6 (дата обращения 04.01.2024)

Abstract

The preschool and primary school stages of education remain almost exclusively female professional niches, and for many years such a sharp gender imbalance in the educational environment around the world was considered natural and not worthy of research. The situation has begun to change in the last two decades, when more and more researchers at the international level began to study various aspects of men's participation in preschool education. The Russian scientific community is in no hurry to join the discussion, and there are practically no Russian publications on this topic. The purpose of the article is to present the results of a review study of the current situation and the foundations of Russian discourse about male preschool teachers.Materials and methods. The authors used a variety of primary and secondary sources of information – official statistics, publications from open sources (content analysis of texts of the Institute of Group Dads project) and collected empirical data (a survey of 142 students of the Institute of Pedagogy and Psychology of Education of Moscow City Pedagogical University (2022), the opinion of the director of the Institute A. I. Savenkova) to study the following issues: how many male educators work in the pre-school education sector; how are male educators represented in public and professional discourses; what strategies have been used to attract more men to the sector and how successful have they been?The results of the study. Despite the limited data available, a low proportion of men among educators in Russia has been revealed. For public discourse, it is important to note the combination of references to classical masculinity and gender equality in the construction of the image of a male educator. Students' opinions differ in complexity and heterogeneity of views on the profession, their own future and male teachers. With the help of a targeted educational policy, obstacles for men to enter the profession of preschool education teacher can be reduced. At the same time, recruitment and retention strategies should eliminate barriers specific to men – changing the social image of the upbringing and education of children in preschool education as a female sphere, improving wages and career prospects for some types of work in the sector.Discussion and conclusion. The conclusions obtained by the authors contribute to the development of such areas of scientific knowledge as the sociology of professions and the sociology of education, offering a new direction for the analysis and evaluation of personnel in preschool education. The materials of the article may be useful to scientists and practitioners in preschool education, as well as be of interest to parents of pupils and civil servants, as they will allow a new look at the traditionally female profession