ABSTRACT
As early childhood education and care services expand globally, the need for qualified teachers and caregivers is critical in meeting the needs of societies, families, and young children. With gender equality as an international sustainability goal, ongoing discourses address advantages of increasing men’s participation and their unique contributions to teaching young children. Dropout rates for both men and women in the field are high, resulting in recurring depletion of experienced staff. Because men’s presence is low to begin with, their retention is a critical factor. The agenda for increasing men’s retention calls for innovative research-based approaches. Although policymakers, educators, and researchers would benefit from understanding men’s career decisions, research about men in ECEC is almost entirely focused on those who stay rather than those who leave. This book grows out of on an innovative international study of 37 men from 12 countries, some of whom dropped out and others who persisted, providing a comprehensive perspective on why men leave and stay in the profession. This study unpacks the crucial role of gender in men’s early childhood career trajectories, believing that gender’s influence must be understood in order to explain why men leave and stay in the profession.
