Robert Winston to speak at men in early years conference

The conference, hosted by the Bristol Men in Early Years (BMIEY) Network in partnership with Bristol Learning Cities, will be held at City Hall in Bristol and feature a day of speeches and discussion focusing on gender in early years education.

The day will seek to address four key questions:

• How can we effectively tackle gender imbalance in the workforce, just two per cent of which is currently male? 
• How can we remove restrictive stereotypes placed on children? 
• Why does society not give the profession the status it deserves?
• What difference can be made to this, both within the profession and in wider society?

Professor of science and society and emeritus professor of fertility studies at Imperial College London Lord Winston will be joined by author of Cleverlands: The Secrets Behind the Success of the World’s Education Superpowers, Lucy Crehan, and teacher Graham Andre, who featured in BBC2 documentary No More Boys and Girls: Can Our Kids Go Gender Free? 

The event will also feature a series of workshops on topics including freeing children from gender constraints, gender diversity and sexuality, making the most of a mixed gender workforce to challenge children’s gender stereotypes, parental perspectives on gender roles in the early years, and perspectives from recent trainees on the Early Years Teacher Status programme, among others.

Local organisations involved in tackling gender inequality across Bristol will provide a range of stalls at the event.

Shaddai Tembo of the leadership team for Bristol Men in Early Years Network said, ‘As a network we are incredibly excited to announce the launch of this event, we have worked hard to put together a conference that builds on the success of Southampton and Bradford in previous years and explore how we can effectively challenge gender issues within the early years. We are particularly excited to welcome Professor Robert Winston, who many will know from Child of Our Time, as our keynote.’

Tickets cost £40 or £20 for students (plus booking fees).

For more information and to book, visit https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/3rd-national-men-in-early-years-conference-bristol-2018-tickets-43895853680