The Children's Workforce Development Council says that more men need to work in early years education to provide better role models for young children. Family break-ups and the resulting increased instances of single-mother families has helped to create the current problems, and this is further compounded by poor rates of pay and engrained stereotypes which are said to deter men from taking up such jobs. Their survey of more than 1,000 parents of young children in England found that 55% wanted a male childcare worker for their nursery-aged child, rising to two-thirds among single parents, so there's clearly a demand here.

Now, there's a lot of talk about role models, and some of it is tosh - speculation as to whether certain footballers, pop stars or soap actors are suitable role models for our young people following news leaks about their latest affair/nightclub brawl/pre-arranged photo opportunity at the local hospital is somewhat simplistic and naive, and underestimates our young peoples' intelligence. But in the course of a conversation with colleagues recently, I got around to thinking that many people growing up in the 70s and 80s - particularly those from non-white communities - could be forgiven for thinking that 'people like them' (and I use that term advisedly) did not fit into modern society as there was a distinct lack of role models who were anything other than white, middle-aged, middle-class men.