Should there be more male teachers?
Definitely! We are a dying species in education at the moment and the few of us who are around tend to hide in our offices behind bits of paper. The problem is particularly acute in primary school where we are virtually extinct. I appeared on BBC Breakfast TV this Tuesday to talk about this: a mother and her two sons agreed with me, talking about how they could talk to male teachers about their problems more openly. I explained that I think a lot of men don’t go into teaching because they are frightened of being accused of being paedophiles, don’t the poor pay and status. It’s sad because good male teachers are not only needed as role models but also to motivate, to bring a different perspective, to bring diversity, to liven things up a bit.
Yes it’s all true. But when I started at a new school the ridiculous innuendo surprised me. I later learnt that it had only started when myself and another male colleague started at the same time. here have been specious and totally untrue allegations that would not have been made against a woman. There have been comments about the relationship between the size of a man and his car. There have been assumptions about what tasks a man will be good at doing. If we can’t sort discrimination by gender out (the first great inequality to be addressed (OK second – social class was first I guess) then what chance do we have with race, religion, belief or non-belief, colour, age, sexual orientation, gender assignment, identity and reassignment, disability, status as a carer, class and culture, membership of professional associations, or history of having exercised a civil, human, legal or democratic right?