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Campaign in China to recruit more males in preschool roles




Female teachers are predominant in preschools and male teachers are predominant in secondary schools and higher education across the globe. If males are involved in preschools they usually are at the higher administrative levels. China aims to redress the imbalance in preschools by actively encouraging the training of more men in kindergarten and preschool roles.

In Shanghai, for example, in 2014 just 200 of the 53,000 teachers at 2,000 kindergartens were men (China Daily, 10 June 2016). One of the problems is the low salary. Another issue is the stereotype that women are better at preschool teaching, with males in preschool roles being perceived as weak or compromising the safety and wellbeing of children.

Education experts think the imbalance could have a social impact on children as they grow and develop due to the lack of male role models in preschool education, just as there is a lack of female role models in secondary and higher education, or an imbalance in non-traditional subject-specific areas. But Chinese education experts also think that boys will become too soft and girls will become too dominant and that neither will have the skills to interact with each other. Added to these perceptions is the lack, or limited number, of sporting teams in Chinese preschools and the limited opportunities for children to develop teamwork skills (with mixed gender teams).

Shanghai kindergartens have been trying to recruit male teachers in preschools since the late 1990s. The first step was to relax college admission requirements for men wanting to become preschool teachers. Next, the Chinese government offered scholarships with a guarantee of full-time employment. Both incentives has not yet produced a significant increase in the number of males in preschool roles, although some males teachers have noticed a gradual rising number over the past six years since 2010.

Director of the Fundamental Education Development Centre at the Shanghai Normal University, Shi Bi, said that one solution is to promote respect. Shi added that the distinct teaching methods used by male and female teachers were ‘a perfect complement’ to enable the provision of a holistic learning experience to all children.



MARTINA NICOLLS is the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).


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