Teacher Narratives on Female Dominance in Sustainable Development: Early Childhood Education

Abstract

Early childhood education (ECE) teachers are female, even in school management positions. ECE is perceived as dominated by females and has long been regarded as a female occupation. This study explores teacher narratives on female dominance in sustainable development in ECE. Even though females dominate ECE, slight changes occur as some male teachers break the stereotyping and the gender imbalance. This article explores the teacher’s narrative through qualitative research, semi-structured interviews, and focus groups, which were employed to understand teachers’ narratives on female dominance. Female teachers were purposefully selected to provide an in-depth understanding of the phenomenon. The paper is theoretically grounded on social identity theory, emphasizing that individuals must protect their identities through favorable groups to preserve their self-esteem. A thematic analysis approach was applied to analyse and make the collected data meaningful. The findings show that there are few male teachers in ECE, and as a result, men who wish to become teachers in ECE are scared to be ridiculed and not regarded as man enough. The suggestion is that for ECE to be sustainable, the Department of Basic Education must consider male teachers to be included in ECE and develop strategies for recruiting male teachers and their sustainability.