FACTORS INFLUENCING THE ENROLLMENT OF MALE STUDENTS IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION TRAINING COLLEGES IN NAIROBI COUNTY , KENYA

There has been a big shift in society toward men playing a greater role in the lives of young children as fathers and male caregivers. However, it is not an easy choice for a man to decide to become a teacher in today‘s world. The decision becomes even more difficult for a man to commit to a career in early childhood education, which for many years has been considered the domain of women. This study was conducted to explore factors influencing the enrollment of male students in early childhood education training colleges in Nairobi County. Objectives that will guided this study include: to establish the influence of family related factors on male students to enrollment in early childhood education training colleges in Nairobi County, to explore the influence of socioeconomic factors on male students to enrollment in early childhood education training colleges in Nairobi County, to describe the influence of individual factors on male students to enrollment in early childhood education training colleges in Nairobi County and to determine the influence of personality factors on male students to enrollment in early childhood education training colleges in Nairobi County. The benefits of this research findings include revealed insights of male students participating in early childhood education programme and therefore provide useful information to government agencies to lobby men into the programme, serve as an encouragement to other male teachers in early childhood education programme by shading light on some positive experiences of being a male teacher in early childhood education and also provide essential information to decrease current deficiencies in the body of research by contributing to the existing base of knowledge in this area, this study will also help inform school administrators to provide an additional resource to encourage men who are considering a career in early childhood education. The study used descriptive survey and focused on male students pursuing a career in early childhood education teaching profession in Nairobi County. For triangulation and hence validity and reliability, data was collected through questionnaires and semi structured interviews, to establish factors influencing the enrollment of male students in early childhood education training colleges in Nairobi County. Data analysis was facilitated by use of Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software. The study used both quantitative and qualitative analysis. Quantitative data included use of frequency tables and percentages to present and summarize the information obtained while qualitative data included responses from open ended question items analyzed in narrative form. Of the 45 questionnaires disseminated, 40 questionnaires were duly filled and returned. In conclusion of factors influencing enrollment of male students in early childhood education training colleges, family responsiveness, family encouragement, provision of family information, family role models and family commitment have the greatest influence. On socioeconomic factors, there is a great influence of opportunity to earn better salary and opportunity for job promotion in early childhood education field. On individual factors, love for children, becoming role models to the boy child, prior experience with children and opportunity to further their professional skills are of greatest influence on career choice of male students in early childhood education. On personality factors, attitude towards teaching is of great influence on career decision, while mental abilities, special skills in teaching, self image and sex were found to have a slight influence on career decision of male students in early childhood education. CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the study Career development, for most people, is a lifelong process of engaging the work world through choosing among employment opportunities made available to them. Each individual undertaking the process is influenced by many factors, including the context in which they live, their personal aptitudes, and educational attainment (Bandura, Barbaranelli, Caprara, &Pastorelli, 2001). The field of early childhood education is seen today by society as primarily a female occupation. However, this feminization of the field has come as a result of a change from a male dominated field for many years. Many of our foundations in the area of early childhood are directly related to men who have contributed significantly throughout the centuries. Educational leaders such as Plato, Comenius, Rousseau, Pestalozzi, Froebel, Owen, and Dewey saw the importance of the early childhood period and its relation to later development. These men studied, developed and wrote on the practice for years prior to the female leadership we see in today;s early childhood education (Jordan, 2011). Low pay, low social status and scrutiny are the main reasons why there are very few male teachers in the field of early childhood education. It can be, then, assumed that increasing wages, and educating society in terms of the advantages of having male teacher in early childhood settings may bring more men in to the profession and help retaining the ones already in the profession. The reasons why some men still choose teaching young children as a career path despite the current circumstances is still a mystery (Yilmaz and $ahin 2010). Family involvement is the extent to which the parents or any family members are involved in the career plans of their children. This is through giving or providing information to their children on the type of job they want to pursue. It includes the extent to which the parents give encouragement, responsiveness, approval and financial support in matters concerned with the career plans of their children (Salami, 2002). A review of the literature by Cameron (2001) concluded that men who work in early childhood, as with other non-traditional occupations, import normative male expectations, earn a better salary than women and are more likely to move into better paid and more senior positions or