Currently the number of men working in early years education in England is very low at 2%. This stubbornly resistant workforce pattern matters because it perpetuates the entrenched gender stereotype of young children's education and care as women's work. It is extraordinary to find this corner of gender statis in a world that is supposedly in the grip of a gender revolution. This gender revolution does not appear to have impacted on, or even dented, the gendered nature of the early years workforce. This is all the more remarkable because early years staffing shortages have now reached crisis point in England (the country where the authors reside and where they have carried out the research referred to in this paper). The small minority of men that do take up work in this sector often work interchangeably with their female counterparts, adopting a range of roles and responsibilities including reading, rough and tumble, comforting and food preparation. The task of intimate care however, or more specifically 'nappy changing', remains an area of tension within men's presence in early years settings, with parents or carers sometimes requesting that male practitioners do not change their child's nappy or nursery managers removing men from this role. Although the Sex Discrimination and Equalities Act 2010 stipulates that no employee should be discriminated against because of their sex, a 2-year study into the recruitment and support of men in early years education in England (GenderEYE) shows that discriminatory practices around intimate care are very much alive.

Children with Social, Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties have been shown to constitute a unique class of Special Educational Need, where their 'challenging' behaviour can often result in a disproportionately punitive response, rather than one characterised by a needs-based understanding of behaviour as communication. Such an understanding underpins relational approaches to behaviour management in school where a will to develop, maintain, repair and sustain attachments is key. In addition, the centrality of language to the success of such approaches has also been identified. This paper explores a relational approach in school within the context of Nurture Groups, Restorative Practice and positive language and communication. It concludes that to enact a principle of inclusion for troubled children, we need to create facilitating environments in school that are consistent, equitable and that promote trust, through naturalistic opportunities for positive language and communication.

Currently, 3% of the early year's education workforce is male, a figure that has remained stubbornly resistant to change over the last four decades. Research has shown that support is key to increasing the number of male employees in this sector. In recent years, there has been an increase in the demand for male-only support activities, such as men-only training courses, or support groups. Whilst these methods are popular in order to establish gender-diverse workforces, an inherent danger is that single-sex support can exacerbate binary thinking and entrench gender differences. This paper explores the role of single-sex support in gender diversifying the early year's workforce and asks when, and for whom, such spaces may be effective or valuable. The discussion is based on data collected during the GenderEYE project, which aimed to look at strategies for, and understandings about, the recruitment and support of male early childhood education professionals.

This study draws on data from the GenderEYE project, research conducted in England between 2018 and 2020, which aimed to examine the recruitment, support and retention of male teachers within early years education (EYE) with a view of developing a more gender diverse workforce in this sector. Data collection was by means of a survey, 9 case studies with early years settings and interviews with key stakeholders. In this study, we examine a key finding about the persistently low numbers of male EYE professionals, linking this to another finding concerning a lack of specific strategy to recruit and support men.

The paper marks the growth of interest in transgender rights and argues for the value of transgender awareness as a challenge to gender binary thinking. It identifies early years education as a powerful site for a focus on gender non-conformity and aims to draw together theoretical and practical forms of support for the EYE staff who respond to young children's gendered expressions on an everyday basis. The authors draw on data gathered within their respective research and professional training trajectories which are understood through queer and feminist poststructuralist theory, together with approaches from transgender studies. These are combined to emphasise gender multiplicities and pluralities of sexuality. The paper examines how staff can be supported towards greater gender sensitivity and considers how the presence of more male teachers in EYE can act as a catalyst for developing a gender flexible pedagogy. It concludes that a growing awareness of transgender benefits the mental health and wellbeing of all young children, and protects gender- variant children from peer abuse.

This chapter is concerned with how a large international and interdisciplinary team of researchers collaborated to collect and interpret data on men's career trajectories in and out of ECEC, an issue that is shaped by cultural and economic conditions particular to each participating country. It focuses on descriptions and analyses of methodological approaches, and especially on the challenge of balancing analytic rigour with an inclusive collaborative approach across this unusually large research team. Taking an interpretivist approach, we collected data on a total of 37 men from twelve countries. A three-part data collection protocol included a narrative interview, semi-structured interview, and a graphic storyline representation of career trajectories. The data produced was analysed using a distinctive cross-cultural inter-researcher perspective. Drawing on the concept of researcher reflexivity, the intersections between the researchers' self-positionings and reflections from the researched participants were examined and compared in a global discourse of men's scarcity in ECEC, informing potential approaches to a 'globalised' agenda in attracting and retaining more men. Though primarily focused on men, our discussions have broader implications for gender issues in ECEC and the wider society. The chapter also provides meaningful methodological experiences for references by researchers in ECEC and beyond.

This special issue brings together a group of articles exploring the possibilities for gender transformation that exist within early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings in an international context.It includes contributions from a variety of Global-North and -South countries, such as Australia, China, England, Germany, Israel, Norway, and South Africa.The authors share the optimistic belief that ECEC offers a rich site for practitioners/teachers to challenge gender stereotypes and to interrogate the gender binary that perpetuates a gender essentialist discourse in the care and education of young children.Inspired by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and particularly by Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 4 ('Ensure inclusive and quality education for all') & 5 ('Achieve gender equality') (United Nations, 2015), this special issue aims to inform pedagogies and practices that will promote gender diversity and equality in ECEC -ultimately providing all children with enriched experiences in their early life and supporting all children to achieve their full potential.

I introduce the book's aims and an overview of the international and historical context for a consideration of men's involvement in early childhood education. I position my own commitment to this research area providing brief autobiographical information, which includes a description of several relevant empirical studies I have undertaken over the last two decades and that I go on to discuss in this book to ground the arguments developed here.

In this chapter I present the theoretical underpinnings of the book's comparison of 'gender balance' arguments for the inclusion of men and 'gender flexibility' arguments. I draw on data from the recent ethnographic case study of Acorns preschool to provide illustrations of gender-flexible practices to explain why we might want more men to work in ECEC and what we might want them to do when they are there. I also provide a short overview of the methodology for this study.

In this chapter I address the topic of play, picking up on conclusions from the fatherhood research considered earlier, about men's particular contribution to play especially physical forms and play in the outdoors. It is no accident that an interest in the employment of men in early childhood education appears to be developing apace with the growth of outdoor education. I discuss data from the Swedish interview-based study with male preschool staff together with findings from Acorns, looking at common perceptions about how gender influences practices related to playfulness, fun, resilience-building and 'freedom'.

In this chapter I focus on the masculinities of staff in early childhood education based on feminist poststructuralist theories of identities in general and masculinities in particular. I illustrate the discussion initially from a sequence of interviews I undertook with a male preschool teacher in the north of England carried out as an evaluation of his father-engagement work. I then move on to discuss the construction of masculinities at the Acorns preschool, a particularly noteworthy context given its mixed-gender staff team.

In this chapter I examine the practicalities of developing a gender-conscious and gender-flexible workforce in ECEC. I present the recruitment drives that have been attempted in other countries especially large-scale, well-funded national campaigns in Norway and Germany. I emphasise the need for training in gender sensitivity in initial teacher training and continuing professional development. I also present various examples of, and arguments for, single-sex, male-only support groups. I emphasise the value of strong supportive leadership and collegiality as essential ingredients for retaining male practitioners.

This book examines the current interest in recruiting and supporting more men in the early childhood education workforce.

I include a chapter on fathers and fathering because it is a research area I have engaged in and also because it provides a readily available body of literature where we might expect to find answers to a central question about the value of a specifically male contribution to children's lives. I present a critical inquiry into claims about the positive impact of fathers' influence on young children and the impacts of father absence before then considering how far these findings might be applied to ECEC. I consider how institutional forces in both the family and preschool reinforce the gender binary in constructing male and female child-care responsibilities in opposition to each other. I also reflect on the relationship between male practitioners and fathers.

This chapter takes a close look at the concept of care considering arguments about care diversity and care equity in early childhood education: what kinds of care practices take place and who performs them. I begin by considering how care is downgraded in neoliberal education policy, illustrating from a recent study of primary school 'nurture groups' (NGs). I consider feminist theories of care using the related concepts of emotional labour and privileged irresponsibility to explore how gender mediates care practices, grounded in the realities of life at Acorns preschool. This includes a focus on embodied and emotional practices and the influence of public suspicion about men working with young children.

In this chapter I offer the reader a script that provides a clear rationale for promoting an increase of male practitioners in ECEC. I argue that the inclusion of more male teachers and carers in the early childhood education workforce can make a vital contribution to the ongoing development of a more gender-egalitarian society. However, I caution that this contribution can only be realised by gender-sensitive practitioners: women and men together, who are willing to practice and perform a gender-flexible pedagogy. At its most radical and transformative, the recruitment and promotion of more men in the ECE is a significant strategy that can help us envision a de-gendered society in which we move beyond the gender binary.