STORY - "Men raising boys "

The childcare industry is booming and it is dominated by women, with men representing only 2% of people in the profession in Australia. An active advocate for greater male participation in early childcare is 38 year old Craig d’Arcy from New Lambton. Craig is married to Victoria, his TAFE Childcare Studies classmate, with whom he has four children: Elih, 12, Ethan, 10, Charlotte, 8, and Noah, 3. He is part of a quiet revolution working to attract men into the profession with colleagues in countries like Norway, which leads the way with males representing 33% of childcare staff. Describing himself as a “rare breed” in this female dominated profession, Craig has worked in early childcare for the past 17 years. His experience has shaped his belief in the overwhelming importance of a male role model in childcare, particularly in cases of boys and single mum families. He believes “it is important for kids to see that men can be nurturing and caring,” as well as women.

Recognising childcare as a booming industry, Craig’s career choice was a pragmatic one. “I knew I was cut out for childcare and I knew it was always going to be a growing industry,” he recalls. He found himself the only male in the class during his six years of study at TAFE and University and confides, “I felt like a fish out of water and copped a lot of stick from my plumber and builder mates,” but he knew he possessed the ideal communication skills, patience, and interpersonal ability for his chosen field. He also had an inkling that offering a male role model in early childcare services would make a positive difference, particularly to those children who had no male influences at home.

After working in a number of childcare services, Craig found that “Working closely with children and building trusting relationships with parents was pretty important work.” He adds, “I feel I make a positive difference. If a family leaves their child with you knowing they will have a good day and be well cared for, then that gives you a lot of job satisfaction.” Throughout his career, Craig has enjoyed positive reinforcement from parents and colleagues for his participation in the field and for providing a male perspective.

As a trainer at the Ethnic Communities Council, Craig trained childcare workers to enable services to offer places for children with disabilities, from different cultural backgrounds, and of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander origin. It was at this time that Craig developed an interest in childcare services for boys. “I saw there was a need for a focus on boys in early childhood services. I could see a lot of boys were kind of missing out and many with behavioural problems that were not being well managed. I started to think about what I could do about it.”

It was serendipitous that Craig was recruited by the University of Newcastle Family Action Centre to the Engaging Fathers Project which he describes as, “really pioneering work”. Craig and the team collaborated with the John Hunter Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit to establish information and network groups specifically for fathers to help them connect with their babies beyond just looking at the beeping monitors. The team also worked with baby health clinics and early childhood services to transform them into “more father-friendly services by adopting a father inclusive approach for the benefit of the children.” They also developed a fathering course and a childhood literacy program for infants and primary schools to support fathers in parenting, child development and communication skills. “Showing children that reading is a good thing to do and fathers role modelling that kind of thing was a really positive way to engage fathers with their children,” says Craig.

Until recently, Craig operated a long day care centre at East Maitland which he co-founded and where he implemented the programs and resources he developed in previous roles. Craig found this satisfying yet demanding. “As a Director, you need to be an expert in property and equipment, finance, human resources management, food safety, marketing, and insurance,” Craig explains. “I had government regulations constantly running around in my head. Regulations protect the children and staff, but they also constrain the range of activities and limit the homelike experience we were once able to give.” Craig worries, “that we have created these artificial places that threaten to institutionalise our children”.

Craig has witnessed changes in services over time to meet increasing expectations of parents, as they struggle with the inadequate government subsidy available. Long day care now provides individualised educational programs, social skills activities and motor skills development to promote school readiness. Consequently, staff responsibilities and qualifications have increased in the absence of commensurate remuneration increases. Craig has also found an increasing commercialisation of services, ineffective marketing and promotion, and lack of strategic planning of new services within the industry. In his opinion, “The lack of planning has caused an oversupply of services for children aged 3 to 5 in Newcastle.” Craig sees these as key challenges confronting the industry.

In addition to his current teaching position, Craig mentors men studying and working in childcare through the Males in Early Childhood Network that he established and shares his professional expertise by speaking at national and international conferences. Now part of the World Forum of Early Care and Education leadership team, based in the United States, Craig will promote his passion for childcare and recruitment of males into childcare roles at an international level.

Craig’s efforts in ‘raising boys and dads’ and promoting the male role model in child caring will help fathers to be more involved in and enjoy their child’s early years as an experience they will never forget.

Scott Moore

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