(Peoples Daily Online)14:43, July 19, 2019
(Photo/Xinhua)
Male teachers are growing in popularity throughout Chinas kindergartens. While rare to find, the role of the male teacher in preschool education has great importance, as many families in China do not have a constant male influence, China Youth Daily reported Thursday.
The giant pandas
Male teachers accounted for less than 3 percent of kindergarten teachers in China in 2017, according to statistics from Chinas Ministry of Education. Figures indicated that there were about 2.43 million professional kindergarten teachers in China in 2017, of which nearly 2.38 million were women.
As female teachers have long dominated the industry, male kindergarten teachers often surprise new parents.
Jiang Wei, a post-90s kindergarten teacher in Fenkou Town, Chunan County of Hangzhou City, capital of east Chinas Zhejiang Province, disclosed that he studied preschool education in Hangzhou Polytechnic. He revealed that there were 47 students in his class, but only three were male. Because of their scarcity, these three male students received the nicknames Giant Panda 1, 2 and 3.
Zheng Wencong was one of the three giant pandas in Jiang Weis class. He was hired by a kindergarten in Jiande City of Zhejiang Province as soon as he graduated. He said he received another offer in Hangzhou while interning in his sophomore year.
He said that when he first joined the kindergarten team, many of the parents were curious and some were even skeptical as to whether he would be a good teacher.
Wu Jingkun, a male kindergarten teacher in Laixi City, east Chinas Shandong Province, said when he first became a teacher, children didnt call him teacher, instead preferring to call him uncle. They asked me who I was and why I was there, because they had never seen a male teacher before, said Wu.
All-rounder
At first, I was too embarrassed to tell my friends that I was a kindergarten teacher, said Huang Longyan from Jinzhou Town, Ningxiang City of central Chinas Hunan Province. He noted that he now enjoys his job and has become a versatile member of the kindergarten team.
Huang cooks and make toys for the children, and enjoys teaching them songs and dances. He even invented a bamboo dance to teach his students.
Parents would often ask me how their children were doing in school, and I thought it was not enough to just simply answer that they were fine, said Huang. He decided to record the everyday performance of each child in a notebook to give to their parents.
A kindergarten teacher should be able to sing, dance, play instruments, draw pictures, and teach, said Zheng Yongjiang, a male kindergarten teacher in Jiande City.
We want to create a cozy space for children, so we often make things on our own as items we order online often arent up to standard, said Zheng. He said that besides knowledge in language, society, science, health and arts, they also need to learn woodworking, chopping firewood, and painting.
Zheng Wencong noted that since the kindergarten had male teachers, fathers came to the kindergarten more often, saying that they wanted to talk about parenting. Some parents said they were lucky to have a male teacher, as it helped build their childs confidence.
Popular
Male teachers are popular, said Cai Fei, principal of Xuzhou Kindergarten Teachers College, noting that the demand for male teachers exceeds supply every year.
Male kindergarten teachers dont have trouble finding work, and many have already been snatched up before graduation. Others get the job on their first try, and some have even been poached by other kindergartens.
The preschool period is a critical stage for personality formation, and having active male role models for young boys is particularly helpful, said Cai.
As the father is often absent in society today, male teachers can play some of these male roles, which is great for the development of the childs personality, Cai added.