Less than 2% of early childhood educators are men. Those who choose this profession are nevertheless convinced of having a huge impact in the lives of toddlers.
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“It’s a beautiful job, rewarding, we see the impact we have on children and families too. Even after 18 years, every day I am thanked, I am told that the children are well with me, that I have a positive impact on the children”, confides Dominique Jodoin, educator in a CPE in Quebec.
The labor shortage is glaring in child care centres. To fulfill its promise to provide a place for all little Quebecers, the Legault government must recruit 18,000 people to work with toddlers.
The proportion of men hired in this sector is starving year after year. According to Dominique Jodoin, men must stop thinking that women are better equipped to take care of children. Mentalities are changing, but too slowly for his taste. It is mainly for this reason that male representatives are still too rare, he believes.
A revelation
The 48-year-old educator was not destined for this path. After college studies in police technology, he worked for seven years in a factory before trying his luck to enter a university teaching program. Put on the waiting list, he hears about the college training in childhood education. It’s a revelation.
Like many men, he was afraid of not being up to it. Now he knows that this apprehension has no reason to be. “A man in the lives of children, it makes a change, it brings a different way of developing children,” he says with conviction.
He’s a big proponent of self-reliance, and his local boyfriends are allowed to make more noise. The equipment made available to them encourages a lot to move.
After 18 years as an educator in a CPE, he has never felt that a parent was uncomfortable with the fact that his offspring evolved in a group headed by a man.
Photo Pierre-Paul Poulin
Didier Merette Dufresne, head of a family daycare service, invites men to get into the business.
Same thing for Didier Merette Dufresne, who is in charge of a family childcare service in the Laurentians, after having worked for twelve years in a CPE. He invites men who are tempted by this profession to get started without delay.
“There’s no one who’s going to judge you, contrary to what a lot of people think. Me, I have several guy friends, some who are very macho, there is never one of them who looked down on me because I had a typically female job, “says the educator aged 35 years.
A demanding job
Even if he enjoyed the last fifteen years, Didier Merette Dufresne plans to eventually leave the profession. “I am in a career change. […] As much as I’m glad I did this, I enjoyed it a lot and I would be able to do it (again), as much as it will do me good to go do something else. It really is a job that is very demanding. »
And that’s especially the case when running a home daycare, he says. Welcoming six children to his home every day has its advantages since he is free to concoct his own educational program in accordance with the guidelines of the ministry.
But there are also disadvantages. “You have a lot more tasks than in CPE, you work many more hours, you don’t have a break, it’s a job that tires more I would say than working in CPE”, he admits. Not to mention the good physical shape required to take care of children.
A “catch-up”
Throughout his career, Didier Merette Dufresne felt recognized at his fair value by children and parents. But not by the government. Recent wage increases for early childhood workers are welcome, but only “catch up” in the eyes of the educator.
Dominique Jodoin also does not believe that the recent salary bonuses will attract more men into the trade.
A profession far from attracting men
Number of men working as educators in the educational childcare services network, excluding those responsible for a family environment.
*The 2018 to 2020 data provided by the Ministère de la Famille are preliminary and subject to change before their official publication.
Comparison with another predominantly female profession
NUMBER OF MEN WORKING IN THE NURSING PROFESSION
Source: Order of Nurses of Quebec