Where are all the men?

Wow! I can't believe another month has already passed. Since my last post at the end of August I have continued to work as a relief ECE teacher in early childhood centers around the Christchurch area. I have been getting quite a bit of work lately (often 4-5 days a week). The preschools are usually separated into different areas dependent on the age of the children. Most preschools will have a nursery room (unders 2's) and a preschool room (3-5 years old). Some other centers will have a third room, toddler room (2 - 3 years old). As a relief teacher, I have had the opportunity to work at several different early childhood centers. It is such a great opportunity to be able to work at all these different centers and see how each one operates. Although many of the centers share similarities in the way they operate, the centers can also be quite different from one center to the next. I am learning a lot about the way I would like my classroom to run by experiencing such a wide range of centers.

At the end of August, I saw a clip on a news program (Close Up) that caught my attention. The video clip showcases and interviews two male kindy teachers in Wellington, New Zealand who took part in a project called YMen. "The premise behind the project was to address the chronic shortages of men working in early childhood education and high rates of unemployment among men under the age of 24" (Meo, K., 2012).

The two male kindy teachers showcased in the video discuss their experiences working as early childhood teachers. It is interesting to listen to the experiences they have had and it got me thinking about the shortage of men working in early childhood education in New Zealand. I started looking online, searching for articles and information about the shortage of male ECE teachers in New Zealand. Although efforts have been made to increase the number of male ECE teachers in New Zealand, numbers remain very low. New Zealand has one of the lowest numbers for male ECE teachers in the developed world. While working in New Zealand as a relief ECE teacher, I have only come across one or two male teachers. Although I know there are more male ECE teachers out there, it is evident that there is a shortage of male teachers. To me, this shortage in male ECE teachers is very concerning. I believe it is important for children to be exposed to both female and male role models.

"Without getting into stereotyping, males and females are simply different, so the way we treat children is different. Male teachers are generally happy to let children take more risks - rough and tumble, sword fights, physical play - where women will try to end what they see as conflict and mediate. You need both - that's why gender balance is so important in centres". (Bloke hunting for early childhood education)

Although the statements made in the above quote are quite general and based on ones own thoughts, I believe the statements hold a lot of truth. As the quote says, males and females are simply different. I have seen first hand the differences between the way children interact with males and the way they interact with females. I grew up as a very active child who engaged in a lot of rough and tumble play. As an ECE teacher, I see the importance in this kind of play and encourage this type of play among children. I do however, realize that I am among the minority of girls who enjoys this type of play. Men are much more likely to enjoy rough and tumble play and to tolerate it. From my experience, boys seem much more comfortable engaging in rough and tumble play with men. While I think the benefits of having male ECE teachers are quite clear, there is a lack of research reinforcing these benefits. More research needs to be done in order to reinforce the importance of employing more male teachers. 

I created a Scoop.It on the topic of male ECE teachers in New Zealand. The Scoop.It (Men's Role in NZ Early Childhood) has several articles and information about male ECE teachers in New Zealand. The articles were very interesting to read through. While it is obvious there is a shortage of men in early childhood, it was still shocking to read some of the statistics presented in the articles. The percentage of men working in early childhood education has grown minimally in the last ten years in New Zealand from 1.08% to 1.3% (data from article, Bloke hunting for early childhood education). The articles discuss some of the possible reasons for such low numbers of male ECE teachers. Some people suggest the reason there are so few male ECE teachers is due to the stereotype that male ECE teachers are all pedophiles. Others suggest the low numbers are due to the fact that centers are simply not catering to male teachers. While there are many different factors playing a role in the low number of male ECE teachers, it is clear that something needs to be done in order to increase the number of male ECE teachers. 

Reference:

Meo, Kim. (2012). YMen project: Kindergartens are helping inspire young men & children alike. The Space, 27,  10-11.

Brown Brother - Honouring Diversity

Last week while working at Busy C's Preschool in Lyttelton I came across an article titled, You See My Brother, I am Brown, in the New Zealand Education Gazette. The article discusses a speech that was given by a prefect from Mt. Roskill Grammer School in Auckland, Joshua Iosefo. Joshua used a form of poetry called spoken word to get his message across to his fellow students. Once uploaded to YouTube, Joshua's speech quickly gained popularity and his message was spread to thousands of people throughout the world. Joshua's speech is a powerful message that transcends generations, ethnicity, gender, and nations. 

Recently I finished an education course titled Psychology and Education of Exceptional Learners (Educ 3602). One of the topics we covered in the course dealt with honouring diversity within the classroom. For our assignment we had to find a resource that could be used in the classroom to honour diversity. In the end, the class was presented with a wide range of resources which could be used within the classroom at all different grade levels. After watching the video clip of Joshua's speech I immediately thought of how this video clip could be used to honour diversity in the classroom. As I am currently in New Zealand, I thought about how this would be an excellent clip for teachers to use to honour diversity in any New Zealand high school (and perhaps intermediate school) classroom. Although this clip may be most applicable to New Zealanders, I believe that this clip could be used within any high school classroom as it is such a strong and inspiring message. 

Below is a YouTube video clip of Joshua reciting his speech at a school assembly. 

Playing a little catch up

Wow! I can't believe it is already the middle of August. The last two months have flown by. The last post I wrote was at the end of June when I was volunteering at Sumner primary school twice a week. I continued to help out with PMP on Wednesday's and Thursday's at Sumner School for a couple more weeks and continued to enjoy the time I spent working as a volunteer. However, as I am planning on returning to Canada in the near future I decided it was time for me to find a paid job where I can save some money to pay for my way home. I plan on writing more about my experience as a volunteer at Sumner School in the following weeks to come.

Finding a job in the education sector in New Zealand can be quite difficult without being a fully qualified teacher with proper certification. Currently there are very few job opportunities within the education sector here in Christchurch, New Zealand. Many schools have recently had to make some cutbacks to staff and therefore the jobs that are available are hard to get, especially without a full teaching certificate. When I was in New Zealand a few years ago, I worked for a company called Select Education where I worked as a relief ECE teacher at early childhood centers around the Christchurch area. I really enjoyed my time working for Select Education and given my extensive background working with young children, I decided I would try to see if there was anything available with the company. I quickly learned that Select Education was no longer around, but that they had been bought out by a larger company called Randstad. When I first searched the education jobs available there were very few and the ones that were available were not for the Christchurch area. I continued to check the job list every few days and eventually a job opportunity opened up looking for early childhood assistants in the Christchurch area. I applied for the job as soon as I saw the post and a week late received a call from the company asking me to come in for an induction meeting and interview. I have now been working as a relief early childhood assistant since July 29th. I have been to over five different early childhood centers so far and I have really been enjoying my experiences working as an early childhood education teacher. It is great to have the opportunity to see all these different centers and to see how each center is run - from the way the rooms are set up to the daily routines of the centers.


In New Zealand, the Ministry of Education has produced an early childhood curriculum policy statement (Te Whariki). The statement is an exciting new development for education in New Zealand as it is the first national curriculum standard for the early childhood sector. "The early childhood curriculum has been envisaged as a whariki, or mat, woven from the principles, strands, and goals defined in this document. A very important aspect of the statement is the fact that it is the first bicultural curriculum statement created in New Zealand. "It contains curriculum specifically for Maori immersion services in early childhood education and establishes, throughout the document as a whole, the bicultural nature of curriculum for all early childhood services" (Lyall Perris, April 9, 2009). The New Zealand early childhood curriculum is centered around four broad principles and five strands. The four broad principles are empowerment (the early childhood curriculum empowers the child to learn and grow), holistic development (the early childhood curriculum reflects the holistic was children learn and grow), family and community (the wider world of family and community is an integral part of the early childhood curriculum) and relationships (children learn through responsive and reciprocal relationships with people, places, and things). The five strands include well-being, belonging, contribution, communication, and exploration. These four principles and five strands together form the framework for the early childhood curriculum. Within each strand there are several goals with learning outcomes developed for each of these goals. The New Zealand ECE curriculum links to the NZ curriculum in schools. Through the early childhood curriculum, children can become properly prepared to transition into school when they turn 5.




Te Whariki - The Woven Mat

It has been such a great educational opportunity for me to work as an ECE teacher so far. I am looking forward to continuing on with this experience as the opportunity is providing me with such a fun and interesting insight into what early childhood education is like in New Zealand. As a physical education major, it is great to have the opportunity working around young children who are at such a fun age for physical development. These children are in the exploration stage - discovering what they can do with their bodies. It is so interesting to watch the development of basic locomotor, non-locomotor, and manipulative skills in young children. It is at early childhood centers where these children are given the opportunity to explore and develop these skills. I look forward to writing more about my experience as an ECE teacher in New Zealand.

PMP - What is it?

The first day I volunteered at Sumner School I had the opportunity to help with a programme called PMP. The programme is designed for school age children, ages 5 and up. Sumner School currently offers the programme twice a week on Wednesday and Thursday to the Year 1 students who are all either 5 or 6 years old. PMP helps to bridge the gap between early childhood education and formal learning by giving students the opportunity to develop the physical motor skills necessary for a successful transition into formal learning. 

The Perceptual Motor Programme (PMP) is a step-by-step programme which aims to help in the development of a students perceptual knowledge and judgement. Throughout the programme students are provided with movement and motor experiences which help to develop a child's perceptions and understandings of himself/herself in relation to his/her world. The aim of the programme is not for the child to develop specific skills, but to develop the child. PMP helps to prepare the brain for leaning by refining perceptual judgments. There are five critical spheres of sensory and physical influence that help prepare a child's brain for formal learning. They are: fitness, eye-tracking, balance, locomotion, and eye-hand/eye-foot coordination. 


                    Body + Brain = Learning

The learning outcomes of PMP are broken into three different areas: skill, perception, and motor outcomes. PMP aims to help students in developing the following skills: physical education skills, confidence, memory, language, and problem solving. The perceptual outcomes of the program include developing the child's body image, body control, laterality, directionality, space-awareness, and body rhythm. The motor outcomes of the programme are locomotion, fitness, balance, and eye-hand/eye-foot coordination. 

Parent volunteers play a major role in ensuring the programme is run successfully. Volunteers can be hard to come by, so my help has always been much appreciated at each PMP session. Each PMP session has 5 different stations which means a parent volunteer or teacher is needed at each station to lead each group of students through the activity/exercise. 

I have thoroughly enjoyed my experience helping out with the programme so far. As a future teacher, I can see the many benefits that this programme will provide to the students. With a background in exercise science and education, this volunteer opportunity has been a perfect fit for me. I am looking forward to helping out at Sumner school's next PMP session tomorrow. 

For more information about the Perceptual Motor Programme (PMP) visit the following website: http://www.movingsmart.co.nz/home/schools/pmp/

Reference:

Moving Smart. (n.d.). PMP - Perceptual Motor Programme. Retrieved from http://www.movingsmart.co.nz/home/schools/pmp/

Sumner School

Sumner primary school is located in Sumner - a seaside suburb of Christchurch, New Zealand. Christchurch is the largest city on the South Island and New Zealand's second-largest city with a population around 360,000. Sumner has a population close to 4,000 and it's beaches, cafes, scenery, and coastal walks make it a popular spot for tourists visiting Christchurch.

Sumner school is a full primary school catering to students from Year 0 to Year 8 with a current roll of around 400 students. Students in New Zealand start school at the age of 5 and begin as a Year 0 or Year 1 and progress each year until they reach Year 13. Most children in Year 0 to Year 8 are between the ages of 5-12. The 2012 Sumner school year started on February 1st and will end on December 18th. The school year is broken down into 4 different terms with a 2 week break between each term. Similar to the school year in Canada, students get around 2 months off for summer holidays. 

Watch the video below to learn more about Sumner School

Sumner School's Vision for Teaching and Learning

    The SURFER Values of Sumner School


                   




For more information about Sumner School visit the school website: http://www.sumner.school.nz/index.html