Few men around the world work in daycare settings, nursery schools or kindergartens. Yet wherever they are found, men who are perceived to have crossed the gender boundary in their choice of profession are widely acclaimed as gifted educators and excellent caregivers. Policy makers who care about providing quality education for young children need…

Because professionalism in early childhood education and care (ECEC) is measured by standards relating to caring, men in the field are often held to expectations associated with female behaviors. This research examines the tensions arising from this encounter and explores alternative solutions which male ECEC workers around the world have…

This article draws on initial interviews with students on childcare courses at levels 2 and 3 in two Further Education colleges in Greater London. The authors argue that the morally worthy nature of childcare makes it an excellent site in which students who had often operated at the margins of their schools, sought to reinvent themselves as mature…