| This qualitative study investigates the experiences and perceptions of eight male students enrolled in one teacher education program. The culture associated with teaching young children is described as feminized, and comparatively few male students choose to enter into it, however studies are needed which go beyond simply asking, "Why so few?" This research is an inquiry into the complexity involved with being male entering into a profession which remains almost exclusively the domain of women.; A theoretical framework which asserts gender to be a socially constructed concept shaped by social, cultural, and personal influences guides the discussion of the data, primarily derived from interviews. A content analysis of talk is used to examine direct participant quotations throughout this work and suggests that male students' experiences and perceptions in the teacher education program under study were influenced by their male status in several ways. First, being male prescribed appropriate behavior both in the University-based setting and in the classroom setting where students completed field, practicum, or student teaching experiences. Second, being male precipitated a form of constraint that restricted these preservice teachers to limited forms of action, and at times inaction. Finally, being male served as a form of currency which facilitated acceptance into the feminine of culture of teaching. The male preservice teachers, who were quite visible in their choice of major because they were so few in number, experienced tensions due, in part, to the invisibility of gender-related issues being addressed and examined in their preparation program. The predominant strategy the students employed to deal with this challenge was to reconstruct the teaching of young children to be more congruent with their notions of what it means to be male, in effect reinforcing stereotypical views of appropriate male/female work. The alternative of aligning their own gender-identity with what's required of good teaching requires that teacher education programs play a greater role in interrupting naturalized views of what it means to be a male or female teacher of young children, and help preservice teachers consider how these views are integral to one's overall teaching identity. |
