1 in 4 primary schools has no male teachers
Shocking new figures raise concerns about lack of role models for schoolboys
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Only 13 per cent of primary school teachers are male, despite a campaign to bring more men into the profession
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Almost one million primary school pupils are taught in schools without a male teacher – fuelling concern for the performance of boys in the classroom.
Headteachers argue that the lack of male role models, particularly for boys from single-parent homes brought up by just their mother, can send a signal to boys about the importance attached to their education.
The figures, published today, show that more than one in four schools do not have a registered male teacher on their staff. There are only two men under the age of 25 working in state nursery schools in the whole country.
The figures, published by the General Teaching Council (GTC) for England, have also fuelled fears that men are being put off applying for jobs because they fear they might be accused of being a paedophile.
"It is absolutely essential that primary schools and indeed early years centres have men working in them," said Mick Brookes, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers. "It is particularly important where there are large numbers of children from single-parent families where there is no male role model at home."
However, he added: "One of the reasons they are put off is the assumption that, if you're a male working in a primary school, there is a fair chance you will be accused of something some time or other. This is because, sadly, there are some people who clearly shouldn't be working with children and, sadly, they generally happen to be males."
The numbers of men teaching in primary schools have fallen this year by 100 to 25,491 – just 13 per cent of the total number. This is despite a campaign to encourage more men into the profession. In nursery schools, their numbers have fallen from 56 to 43. Last year's overall recruitment figures showed the percentage of males was at its lowest level for five years.
A study carried out for the Training and Development Agency, which is responsible for training teachers, said that boys performed better in education if they have a male teacher in their primary school. The study of more than 1,000 men revealed that almost half (48 per cent) cited male primary teachers as having the most impact on them during their school life. In addition, 35 per cent said male primary school teachers had challenged them to work harder at school.
The figures show 27 per cent of all primary schools in England have no registered male teachers – 4,550 schools out of the 16,892 in the country. In all, that means about 945,000 five to 11-year-olds will never be taught by a man.
It is the first time in the seven-year history of teaching force statistics that the numbers have been broken down school by school. Overall, just 25 per cent of all teachers are male. However, in secondary schools recruitment is increasing, up by just over 4,000 to bring the total number to 123,827 or just under 25 per cent.
Keith Bartley, chief executive of the GTC, said: "If men do not believe that teaching is a worthwhile career option for them, or worse still, if their interest in teaching is viewed with suspicion, then children potentially miss out on a huge pool of talent."
* Headteacher vacancies have been left unfilled at more than one in four primary and special schools in the past year. Twenty-one per cent of all vacancies in secondary schools have remained unfilled.
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Comments
Either way, it sounds like institutional sexism to me.
I recognised that teaching in the UK would collapse if it wasn't for women. Why? Because basically one has to sacrifice their entire lives to education for the weeks and months of the year until the summer holidays.
Women are effectively blackmailed through their maternal instincts by the government into giving far more than they are contracted to do or is reasonable to expect of them.
Men would just leave the profession, like me. I'm an electrical engineer for a technology consultancy now.
Additionally, although you are the king of your class, in reality intellectual and educational freedom is highly restricted. Male ways of thinking, approaching tasks and working are actively discouraged; the entire approach to education has been feminised. In combination with a highly feminine culture, lower levels of professionalism (too many teachers come straight from school) and high levels of intrusive regulation: the working environment and practices in primary schools are antithetical to the male mind.
There is a terrible suspicion of men who want to work in primaries, fuelled by the "paedo" phobia in the gutter press. Also, my university tutor considered a career as a primary teacher, and I quote: "a waste of a good chemistry degree".
It's not about pay - it's about prejudice.
Apart from the Peado fears instilled in the population by the gutter press there is an institutionalised sexism within the primary school sector. In recent years I have been asked by my employer (secondary school and sixth form) to carry out transition work with local primary schools, providing specialist lessons in ICT to enable the children to thrive at secondary school.
At the first school I was greeted with "...they sent a man, oh right we weren't expecting that" and was hardly welcomed into the staffroom, in fact given the very distinct impression that I was intruding in their private domain. A direct contrast to the experience of the female teacher who was assigned the task after I refused to continue working in an environment of sanctioned misandry.
I compare my experiences in primary schools to the warm welcome received at every secondary school I have worked with and can clearly understand why few men would be willing to work in the primary sector.