Decline in male teachers ‘robbing young boys of role models’

THE decline in men choosing teaching as a career must be reversed to ensure young boys have male role models at school, Fine Gael said yesterday.

Figures presented by Education Minister Noel Dempsey in the Dáil this week show that less than one-fifth of the country’s 26,000 primary teachers are men. While one-quarter of teachers in their 50s are male, the figure is just 10% among the 6,800 primary teachers in their 20s.

Fine Gael deputy education spokesman David Stanton said part of the reason fewer men were entering the profession was the swing towards other sectors, such as computers and information technology.

“Whatever the causes are, the Government and the Department of Education should do more to promote teaching as a career for men, particularly through guidance counselling and other services in second level,” he said.

“There are a big number of single-parent families headed by mothers and their children need more positive influences of a male role model that they might not have at home,” said Mr Stanton.

Although gender trends in teaching generally reflect the situation in other European countries, Mr Dempsey said he is concerned about the imbalance.

But, he said, any proposal to attract more males to the primary teaching profession must take account of equality law requirements.

A 2002 report commissioned by his department showed that many third-level course choices seemed to be gender stereotyped. It concluded it might be difficult for any society to bring about an early reversal of the feminisation trends in teaching.

Mr Dempsey said the teaching council due to be operating later this year will provide an influential forum on issues such as recruitment.

The council will be a regulating body for the profession, in the same way as the Medical Council sets standards and conduct codes for the country’s doctors.

Department of Education figures recently received by the Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) show the €42,300 average annual payment to a female teacher is €7,400 less than that to a male teacher.

This is explained by the predominance of women at the lower end of the pay scale and their under-representation in senior positions.

The union said such a gap may persist until there is an increase in the intake of males into teaching and more women move into senior positions.

“If present trends were to continue, the last male would leave primary teaching in a little over 30 years,” said INTO general secretary John Carr.

A major report on the issue of gender imbalance in the profession is due to be published by the union next week.