Honour grade Irish ‘barrier to male teachers’

THE obligation to have honours Leaving Certificate Irish to become a primary school teacher may be an obstacle to men entering the profession, an expert committee has found.

However, the group, set up to examine ways of increasing the number of male teachers, said reducing the requirement for a minimum C grade in higher level Gaeilge would not guarantee achieving that goal.

The proportion of men among primary teachers has fallen from 30% in the 1970s to 18%, while only 10% of those entering the profession are men.

Department of Education figures show that more than one-third of the country’s 3,300 primary schools are staffed entirely by women and current trends suggest all primary teachers will be female by 2040.

Last summer, only one-in-four male Leaving Certificate Irish candidates took the higher level paper and 3,714 scored a grade C or higher. But more than 40% of female candidates took higher level Irish, and almost 8,200 reached the minimum requirement for primary teaching.

The Primary Education Committee, whose report was launched by Education Minister Mary Hanafin yesterday, recommends research on the likely outcome if the requirement was eased. It also urges improvements to the second level Gaeilge syllabus and teaching methods with emphasis on the spoken language, a scholarship for Gaeltacht courses and more guidance counselling before the Junior Certificate.

The committee included representatives of colleges of education, the Institute of Guidance Counsellors, the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) and Ms Hanafin’s department.

The minister has responded with a campaign to attract men to primary teaching.

“It’s important for children to have positive role models of both sexes and school environments need to reflect society more comprehensively,” she said.

Fine Gael education spokeswoman Olwyn Enright said requirements in Irish should be lowered to those in English and maths, and training courses could be changed to help raise trainee teachers’ standards in Irish.

“The minister would do more good by addressing specific barriers to gender balance than commissioning more research,” she said.

INTO general secretary John Carr said promoting teaching for males was particularly important as many children are being raised in one-parent families, more often by lone mothers. He said a substantial shortening of the 25-point salary scale would mean other careers might not appear more attractive to young men.

Other recommendations of the committee include research on the impact of the presence or absence of men in primary schools and why fewer boys take higher level Gaeilge.