Male school teachers may be extinct in government primary schools in under 40 years if “urgent policy action” is not taken, a new report says.
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And by the year 2067, primary schools may have no male teachers at all.
Research conducted by Macquarie University’s Dr Kevin McGrath and Dr Penny Van Bergen showed that in 1977 male primary teachers made up around 28.5 per cent of school staff nationally.
That percentage is now down to about 18 per cent. The same issue faces secondary schools, but not quite so dire.
Over the past 50 years, male teacher numbers have declined sharply in both primary and secondary schools, across the government, Catholic and independent sectors.
Tasmania has a slightly higher average of about 20 per cent, but the outlook is no less concerning.
“Given that none of the three Australian school sectors ... have developed national policies to attract or retain male teachers across our 50 years of analysis, it is pertinent that education providers start to address this,” Dr McGrath said.
St Leonards Primary physical education and advanced skills teacher David Patten said his school has only one full-time male classroom teacher, alongside himself and the school’s principal.
Mr Patten said his mother was a school teacher, which made the profession more attractive to him, as well as the longer holidays, job stability and high demand for male teachers.
“I think being a young male is sometimes beneficial when you’re coming through the system, because of that lack of males in the environment,” he said.
“There’s some pros and cons ... in primary schools especially there’s a lot of leadership opportunities for males. I love this, I reckon I’ve got the best job going around.”
Solutions
The research advises action from the federal government to actively recruit and retain male teachers in schools. Solutions put forward include increasing the wage to attract more men – many of whom may still the primary breadwinner in their families – increasing the prestige of the education sector, and active recruitment from government education departments.
However the research noted society looks unfavourably on programs designed to support male workers exclusively, which could hinder such recruitment efforts.
Mr Patten said one issue could be a general emphasis on encouraging young male students into trades or other qualifications, rather than encouraging them to pursue teaching careers.
University of Tasmania lecturer Dr Vaughan Cruickshank recently wrote his PhD on ways to encourage male primary teachers in Tasmania to stay in their profession.
His research highlighted such issues as isolation, social and gender expectations, and the risks of false accusations of inappropriate conduct with students as major drivers for male teachers to change careers.
Dr Cruickshank said he agreed with Dr McGrath’s findings, and noted there were no easy answers for ways to retain male teachers.
Mr Patten said he was always highly aware of correct conduct, particularly around female pupils, and agreed there was “an element of risk” in being a male teacher in the modern profession.
He said at school it was his role “just to be a bloke” as the male role model for pupils who may not have male figures in their life.
Encouraging more teachers
For the independent school sector, Launceston Church Grammar head of senior campus Nick Foster said private schools have a much better balance of male and female teachers.
Grammar’s junior school grade 6 teacher Timothy Brown said he became a teacher because he loved working with children, starting his career as an early learning teacher. He said he always felt supported in the private school system.
Both Mr Brown and Mr Foster agreed that a passion for teaching was key, and that attracting more men to the profession would need to look at encouraging such passion and maintaining strong connections between schools and their graduates.
Federal education minister Simon Birmingham said there was no “silver bullet” to increasing male teacher numbers, but said the federal government was working to make teaching a more attractive career.
Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff was contacted for comment.
