Shortage of male primary teachers doesn’t add up

It can be hard to avoid stereotypes in education. From the motherly infant teacher to the stern headmaster; from Miss Jean Brodie to Mr Chips most people can warm or shudder to memories of teachers they have encountered. In primary schools this is particularly acute where as a child you are with the same teacher for a whole academic year and sometimes two if the teacher is asked to take the class on. This can be an amazing experience or a terrifying one depending on the child and the teacher but there is little doubt that our experience of being in school is more than just being taught a curriculum. Recent figures from the Scottish Executive show a shortfall in the number of teachers in Scotland. Ministers claim that it is a supply and demand situation, as school rolls fall so inevitably must the number of teachers required be decreased. Headteachers have pointed out that they are struggling to fill vacancies and are often having to cover classes in cases of absence. In small schools this can be very disruptive.

The figures however are only the beginning of the concern. While the Scottish Executive maintain that they are continuing to recruit, will it be enough to cover the projected retirement of its primary sector teachers, the majority of whom are within a chalk throw of retirement? In most of the schools I have taught in I have been aware that I have always, shall we say, been one of the younger members of staff. Of course that’s how it is and it’s great to be surrounded by such a wealth of experience. But that’s not the only issue. In a lot of the schools I have taught in I have often been the only male member of the teaching staff.

Where have all the male teachers gone, or rather were they ever there? The male primary teacher is a lesser spotted creature, an anomaly that causes eyebrows to raise and sets people to wonder how a man could possibly cope with 30 children first thing on a Monday morning. As easily as anyone could would be a short answer to that, but it’s disturbing to recall that only 10 or 15% of the students on my teaching course were men and some of them dropped out. What’s putting them off, who’s putting them off? It can’t all be Miss Jean Brodie’s fault.

But she — or rather the acceptance of that teacher stereotype she embodied — must be part of the problem. It is not a women-only job. Would it be too provocative to state that the male teacher brings something to a child’s education that his female colleague does not? Discuss. Battlelines shouldn’t have to be drawn, gender doesn’t have to become an issue if it was the norm rather than the exception that a child would be getting a male teacher when they return to school later this month. A recent online poll suggested that the vast majority of parents are in favour of more male teachers but then that same majority are also opposed to any kind of positive discrimination at the recruitment stage.

The Scottish Executive would be well advised to consider this problem at the recruitment level. Since the McCrone agreement which saw a much needed boost to teacher’s salaries, entrance on to teaching courses has become very competitive and there has been a slight change in the gender ratio but it would be disingenuous to suggest that it’s all about money. Throwing money at teachers isn’t going to change the perception that a grown man reading a story about floating sheep to a bunch of rapt five-year-olds or encouraging them to keep in time to singalongwith is at the very least unusual but to some it’s almost unimaginable.

As a male teacher, people would assume that I must be in secondary school, teaching “manly” things like maths or science rather than discussing the finer points of flying dragons. They miss the point. As long as the teacher knows these finer points, is prepared to stimulate and challenge young minds it doesn’t matter what gender they are.

The Howard government in Australia has introduced a small change to the Sex Discrimination Act which will allow education authorities to offer scholarships to men to train to become primary school teachers. Would the Scottish Executive consider such a move? Something needs to be done. Young children need positive male and female role models. Male teachers are not “substitute fathers” just as female teachers are not substitute mothers but, as is reflected in society at large, men can be carers as well as educators; they can and should be involved with the development of young people lives – from pre-five onwards.

Toni Davidson
15 August 2004

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