Date of Conferral

4-24-2026

Degree

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

School

Education

Advisor

Grace Lappin

Abstract

Diversity in the ECE workforce has been shown to have a positive social and academic influence on children and families within the ECE setting. The problem addressed in this study was that in an urban eastern school district (UESD), there was an educator gender imbalance in early childhood education (ECE). Grounded in Smith’s rational choice theory, the purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore the experiences of male preschool and kindergarten (P—K) teachers in UESD. Data were collected through semistructured interviews with 13 male P—K teachers working in the UESD. Thematic analysis using inductive coding indicated male educators: (a) described others being intimidated by them, (b described parents and co-teachers feeling uncomfortable with a male teacher in the classroom, (c) stated the low salary forced them to leave the field or move to management positions, (d) described being used as disciplinarians leading to teacher burn out, (e) believed they were viewed as role models by the children, and (f) described being a P—K teacher as their life purpose. Findings include that male P—K teachers report they are often viewed as role models, experienced stereotypical judgement based on their gender that often led to burn out, forcing them to leave the early learning setting. Based on the findings, a 3-day professional development workshop was created to bring awareness to the scarcity of men in ECE and to emphasize the importance of male educators in ECE. The findings and resulting project may promote social change by providing a platform for male educators to share their experiences in ECE, promote more gender diverse classrooms, and increase overall diversity in the ECE workforce.

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