Why there is a lack of male primary school teachers?
Men are generally put of working with young children as it is seen as a women’s profession by the community. It is asserted that this decision is based on the fear that they would be labelled as ‘paedophiles’ and collectively profound embedded stereotyping.
Although, recent research says that most men are comfortable working with young children and that gender was ‘not an issue’. Based on numbers from a research found from the freedom of information act, showed the amount of schools, that were completely full of only female teachers, was around the 4500 mark, so a quarter of primary schools based in England. More statistics showed that not only 12% of primary school teachers and workers were men, but only 3% of the men population were nurses. (Paton, 2013). Many children experience the lack of male role models until the age of 11, when they attend secondary school. This is partly because some parents feel that there may be something odd or peculiar about male primary school teachers. It is drawn to attention that some mothers are worried about sending their children, especially daughters, to a primary school with male teachers, as they are scared that their children will be at a threat of being sexually assaulted. This type of deliberation has a vast effect on both children, who have no male role models, and also men seeing a career in primary school teaching. There are so many reasons why men hold back from pursuing such a career, one being that if he is falsely accused of sexually assaulting a student, then that will be the end of his career. Little do these parents, who are worried about their children being around male teachers, know that most sexual abuse stories against children are reported against family or friends. Also, there have been a number of occasions where stories about female teachers having any sexual contact with male students have arisen. So for those who are stereotypical about men being bad and women being wrong, think again. (Sarler, 2009). Bryan G, Nelson, the creator of menteach.org, conducted some research to try and find reasons why men don’t become teachers. His research lead him to three main reasons, we covered two previously, stereotyping and being accused of sexual abuse. Nelson also picked up, that men get labelled ‘gay’ just because they chose a career where they need to have a nurturing personality to interact well with children. |
Furthermore, Nelson elaborated on low income and low status recognition. He disputes that men are not going into teaching because the salary is low and that ‘men’ need to earn more money to support their families, completely disregarding that women who are single mothers or widowed mothers that need to provide for their children on their own are applying to become teachers. There are men and women who could potentially become very good teachers, yet they chose to look for jobs that pay more.
Some men pick to work in professions such as the police or military, their excuse cannot be salary as those jobs pay almost the same as what teachers get paid, it is because their male ego makes them believe that they are looked up at. (Nelson, 2007). Teaching is also creative, “There are men poets, if men can feel free enough to identify with poetry and art, it’s funny that they don’t feel free to go into elementary school teaching.” (O’Connor, 2007). Below are some facts and figures to show how much we lack male primary school teachers: Only 15.7% of primary school teachers in England are men. 83% of parents were asked why they would like more male role models to be a part of their child’s life. “One in four parents were concerned that their children did not have enough interaction with male teachers, 61% believed male teachers had a crucial role to play in helping children feel more confident with men, 26% were worried that their children would lack a male perspective on life, 22% were concerned their children did not have enough contact with positive male figures of authority and 47% did not have any contact with male teachers”. There are 26,200 male primary school teachers in England compared to the 141,000 female primary teachers, according to the department for education skills. (Unknown, 2006). |