Wango, G. M.Mwangi, Willy Waweru2013-11-072013-11-072013-11-07http://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/7574Department of Gender and Development Studies, 81p. The LB 1775.5 .K4M89 2010The field of pre-school teaching has for long been associated with women because of the attributed gender roles in the society. Factors that inspire men leading them into this highly stereotypical area and why they remain as pre-school teachers have not been adequately investigated and documented. The objective of the study was to investigate the factors that motivate men to teach in pre-schools in Gatundu North District. The subjects of the study consisted of all the male pre-school teachers in the district, sampled female pre-school teachers and headteachers from the schools these teachers were teaching. The researcher used Albert Bandura's Social Cognitive and Self Efficacy Theories to explain that one's thought process is important in making decisions to suite self. Sometimes these decisions are not in line with the socio-cultural context. It is, therefore, imperative that one should be driven by the innate forces to accomplish a desired goal while maintaining the norms of the society. The study sampled the respondents from both the male and the female pre-school teachers and the headteachers, using purposive sampling technique. Quota sampling was also used to distribute to each of the three zones the respondents proportionally. Data were collected using questionnaires and analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) programme after coding it. The results indicated that the male subjects of the study were of the opinion that pre-school teaching was an employment opportunity and the gender stereotypes were an impediment to many males joining pre-school teaching. In view of this, it was concluded that the males in the pre-school teaching career in Gatundu North District were in it because of self-motivation, to demystify cultural gender stereotypes and that men and women can equally participate in the holistic development of the child. It was also recommended that conscious and deliberate efforts, through educating the public, formulation of policies and an affirmative action be put in place for the males to actualize the important space they occupy in their contribution towards the holistic development of the child. The study recommended that appropriate measures should be taken to bring in more males to pre-school teaching.enPreschool teachers --KenyaMale preschool teachersThesis