At the margin and in the centre: how men working in early childhood education and care frame their role

Men remain underrepresented in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC), comprising fewer than 4% of the workforce across OECD countries including the site of this study, Australia. Despite global efforts to increase male participation, men are often the solo male educator and face both stigma as deviants and valorisation as pioneers. The extent to which these binary framings inform men’s professional identity is not well understood. Using frame analysis and Elliott’s (2020) conceptualisation of open margins and closed centres, we analyse accounts of 12 men working alongside other men in three ECEC services in Australia. We identify two dominant framings. The Crucial Man is employed to justify men’s presence by asserting they fill a deficit of masculinity as justification for their work choice. In contrast, when speaking of their role as an educator of young children, they frame themselves as The Professional Educator, focusing on caregiving, collaboration, and professional expertise they gain in their role. Our findings highlight the need to move beyond gender essentialism when developing policies aimed at increasing diversity within the workforce. Highlighting professionalism focuses on the central role of alleducators in ECEC rather than reinforcing narratives that assume a crucial role of men in ECEC.