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Men’s participation in early childhood education and care (ECEC): comparative perspectives from Edinburgh, Scotland and Tianjin, China

Xu, Yuwei; Schweisfurth, Michele; Read, Barbara

Men’s participation in early childhood education and care (ECEC): comparative perspectives from Edinburgh, Scotland and Tianjin, China Thumbnail


Authors

Michele Schweisfurth

Barbara Read



Abstract

At the global level, prominent narratives about improving the quality of early childhood education and care (ECEC) promote the recruitment of men into the profession. However, comparing across different policy and practice settings demonstrates contrasting expressions and experiences of how men contribute to ECEC. This article presents findings from a study in Edinburgh, Scotland and Tianjin, China. The study explored how male and female practitioners and children talk about gender and how gendered relationships and roles are ‘performed’ in practice settings. In the two contexts, national/regional policy aims to raise the number of men working in ECEC, but in both cases and in different ways the inclusion of men in ECEC reinforces cultural gender norms as much as interrupting them. This research points to the need for comparative research to include observation data and practitioners’ and children’s views to enhance understanding of how global discourses of ECEC are enacted in different contexts.

Citation

Xu, Y., Schweisfurth, M., & Read, B. (2022). Men’s participation in early childhood education and care (ECEC): comparative perspectives from Edinburgh, Scotland and Tianjin, China. Comparative Education, 58(3), 345-363. https://doi.org/10.1080/03050068.2022.2062950

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Mar 31, 2022
Online Publication Date Apr 11, 2022
Publication Date Apr 11, 2022
Deposit Date Mar 31, 2022
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Comparative Education
Print ISSN 0305-0068
Electronic ISSN 1360-0486
Publisher Informa UK Limited
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 58
Issue 3
Pages 345-363
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/03050068.2022.2062950
Keywords gender; men in childcare; child-practitioner interactions; early childhood education and care (ECEC); comparative perspectives
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/7682216
Publisher URL https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03050068.2022.2062950

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