Boys
in kindergardens
Women working with boys: Research
& Training
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Boys
in kindergardens
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EuoPROFEM - The European Men Profeminist Network http://www.europrofem.org
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Tim Rohrman http://www.rolstad.no/iasom/Jul97.htm
In
the last years the interest in questions of development and socialisation of
boys has increased in Germany. New ways of the work with boys, especially
adolescents, are discussed in the fields of social work, education, training
and psychology. In this situation we could realize a research project called
„Manns-Bilder – Boys in
kindergardens“. The project was funded by AGIP, an institution funding basic
research in different fields, with the money coming from the government of the
Land Niedersachsen, and situated at the Fachhochschule für Sozialwesen
(social work) in Braunschweig, under the guidance of Prof. Peter Thoma. The
word „Manns-Bilder“ is not translateable, as it means „pictures and/or
images of men“, but is also a German expression for „a real man!“.
Two
thoughts lead to the idea of a research project about boys in kindergardens:
·
the
importance of the early childhood for further development,
·
the fact
that German children spent a big deal of this important time in public
institutions.
To
bring back scientific results into the practice, one of the aims of the
project was to develop training programs for the staff of kindergardens.
German
kindergardens are public institutions, in which children aged 3-6 stay for 4
to 10 hours. Some kindergardens also take care for smaller or older children.
Today the kindergarden is clearly not
understood as a „pre-school“, but more as a place where children can
develop themselves and learn to cooperate with others. The staff consists of
members of different professions, mostly „Erzieherinnen“, which I will
translate with „caretakers“ in this article. Around 99% of them are female.
One
of the major problems of the development of boys (and girls, too!) is the lack
of men in the raising of small children. Work with small children is a
woman’s job, with low status and income. To change this, the attitudes about
tasks of men and women in our society have to be changed. But the claim of
bringing more men into kindergardens is a political claim, and won’t be
realized in a few years. In everyday life the boys have to get along with
women – and woman with boys. From this point of view it seemed to make sense
to focus the research on the situation of boys and women.
We
understand our project as a contribution to gender studies from men’s point
of view. It was the first project about the theme in Germany, and there were
only few reports and studies which could be used as a starting-point. In most
kindergardens questions of gender have not been discussed very much. In spite
of many years of feminism and social work with girls in other fields,
caretakers in kindergardens - and as well many of the professionals who train
and work with them - are used to think of „children“ rather than of
„boys“ and „girls“. So our project could not aim at too specific
results and is better described as a „pilot study“. In a period over two
years (1.3.1994 - 31.1.96) we worked together with the staff of six
kindergardens, their advisers and the holding institutions – the city of
Braunschweig, the Protestant Church, and groups organized by parents (the
various German institutions for the care-taking for children are a complex
system, difficult to understand, and even more difficult to translate into
english!).
The
theoretical part of the project gave a broad overview over results of
developmental psychology, sociology, gender and men’s studies etc. Here I
could build upon my former book Junge,
Junge - Mann, o Mann (The development to manhood). We documented the
actual discussion in the social work field about work with boys, and tried to
„translate“ some theories of men’s studies to the situation of boys in
kindergardens, e.g. Gilmore and
Connell.
The
empirical research focused on two subjects:
·
the
situation of boys in a social world dominated by woman
·
the everyday
situation of caretakers and their view of the behavior of boys.
The
project consisted of three parts, each of them approaching the theme from
another viewpoint: the view of the researchers, the view of the caretakers,
and the view of the boys. An „objective“ approach was intended by
observations, partly with video, in evereryday situations (part I). Open
interviews with the caretakers gave informations about their perceptions and
interaction style (part II). Finally the boys were asked to make drawings (of
men, or how they imagined themselves as grown-ups), which gave us some insight
into the subjective views of the boys themselves (part III).
All
parts of the project showed that a „typical“ behavior of boys and typical
„themes“ of boys exist. First this means that boys are (or seem to be)
always active and in motion, use traditional symbols of masculinity and are
fond of fighting. This is most noticeable with the older boys (5-6 years old)
and depends on the situation. On the other hand the behavior of boys shows
much variety (and sometimes contradictions): „the“ boy or „the“
behavior of boys does not exist (…and neither does „the“ caretaker). It
became apparent that environmental factors of the institutions play an
important role for behavior that is sometimes thought to be „natural“ for
boys.
Usually
there are a lot of reasons which lead to „problem behavior“ of boys in
kindergardens: on one side individual deficits and the family background, on
the other side difficult personal and environmental conditions of the
institutions. But it is obvious that boys’ and girls’ coping mechanisms in
problem situations are different. Therefore one of the main results of the
project is the hypothesis, that problem behavior of boys in kindergardens is a
gender-typical reaction to
difficult and disstressing life conditions and/or situations. This means that
„typical“ and especially aggressive behavior of boys is not „natural“,
but can be regarded as a „symptom“ of difficult socialisation processes,
becoming apparent in institutional conditions which don’t provide
alternatives.
From
a methodological point of view, our study can’t fulfill scientific demands.
Nevertheless it shows how important gender-related questions are – already
in the kindergarden. The hypothesis of a „search for manhood“ can be used
as a starting-point for explanations of boys’ behavior in kindergardens. In
this life span we can watch the first steps to what later appears as typical
or non-typical behavior of boys and men. Thus this liefetime is a fascinating
subject for research as well as for practical work.
Workshops
and training for caretakers
There
was an unexpected huge public interest in the results of the project. After a
few weeks the 300-pages-report was out of print. But we guess that not the
empirical research, but questions of practical work are reason for the
continuing interest. Training had been part of the project – a
four-day-workshops was held for every holder, the participating caretakers
coming from different kindergardens. But as the development of practical
concepts was not part of the funded research, this was not included in the
report. Since then I held workshops and trainings in Germany, Austria and
Luxemburg. In the meantime we published our experiences in a book for
education and training: Jungen im
Kindergarten. Ein
Handbuch zur geschlechtsbezogenen Pädagogik für Aus- und Fortbildung.
The book contains
theory (male development, socialisation process, situation of boys and
caretakers, media, conflicts, etc.) as well as a variety of ideas and methods
for practical work in education, advising and training of caretakers, teachers
and social workers – and, last not least, the everyday situation in
kindergardens. It is mainly made for people who do practical work, but the
theory and main results of our study are included (more information about the
book below in German).
Since
a few years, caretakers working in German kindergardens are obliged to take
part in some days of training (Fortbildung)
every year. Gender-related issues have been quite popular in the last time,
especially the question of „difficult boys“. Even bigger is the interest
in questions of aggressive behavior, clearly a gender-related theme. But, as
mentioned before, most people working in the elemtary field are often unaware
of the gender aspects of children’s behavior.
Work
with boys is a quite established subject in the field of social work – there
are projects, conferences, workshops everywhere. But usually this is work of
men with adolescent boys. Nothing the like exists in the question of the work
of women with small boys. Those who have worked with caretakers in
kindergardens about gender-related themes often don’t know each other, and
there is no forum for discussion. Meanwhile we have established a small
national-wide workgroup of men who are engaged as teachers, trainers and
counsellors in the field of gender-related issues in kindergarden and primary
schools. We meet once a year to discuss e.g. questions of male development, of
boys in early childhood institutions, and of working with women as a male
trainer.
There
is a need for competent training in the field of primary education, for the
majority of female caretakers and teachers as well as for the small group of
male colleagues. On the other hand, the bad financial situation makes it
difficult to bring in new themes into the established system of holders,
institutions and training of caretakers or the fairly bureaucratic German
school system. It is especially difficult to organize trainings for the few
men working for kindergardens. The importance of male caretakers is often
emphasized – e.g., raising the number of male colleagues is one of the basic
claims mentioned by the Network of the EU commission for the care-taking of
children. But in reality, male caretakers are often isolated and don’t see
much perspectives in their job. In the last years we could organize a number
of workshops for male caretakers in different regions of Germany, and some
local workgroups were established. Author & contact: Tim Rohrmann,
Tuckermannstrasse 3, D-38118 Braunschweig, phone/fax 0531/504200, e-mail
Tim.Rohrmann@t-online.de Männerfachkreis Geschlechtsbewußte Pädagogik in Kindertagesstätten und Grundschule, c/o Tim Rohrmann. Books: Rohrmann, Tim (1994): Junge, Junge – Mann, o Mann. Die Entwicklung zur Männlichkeit. Reinbek: Rowohlt. (Neuauflage in Vorbereitung). Rohrmann, Tim
& Thoma, Peter (1998): Jungen in Kindertagesstätten. Ein Handbuch zur
geschlechtsbezogenen Pädagogik. Freiburg: Lambertus. |
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