More male teachers - doesn't that mean fewer females?

[mids2019]

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/apr/03/bridget-phillipson-education-secretary-more-male-teachers-adolescence

I don't think this was a considered statement as in world where women have had to fight hard for representation in professions it is is grange for a cabinet Secretary to advocate for more men in a professiion. We certainly wouldn't see the health Secretary advocate for male doctors in a profession historically dominated by men at least until the last few decades.

I don't think teachers are there primarily to be role models but educators. The sex of the teacher should make no difference only their overall ability to the job. To somehow suggest a male has more authority or respect from male pupils surely is just veiled sexism?

I don't personally agree......

I'm not sure why you keep comparing teachers with doctors. Teaching is much more comparable with nursing: historically seen as a caring profession done by women; underpaid as a result; on its knees and held up by goodwill, and deserving of far more respect.

It's still perceived as a low status job, so many men won't go in for it.

"Teaching is one of the very few professions dominated by women (caring profession). It is therefore underpaid"

Oh get a grip. It is not underpaid because the government targets women and the patriarchy. It is underpaid because it is a public service and always easiest for the government to control pay rises and cut funding ( in real terms) etc.

By your logic , doctors, the probation service, criminal barristers, the prison service and so on must be female dominated too...

There are more female head teachers, but not as a proportion.

In 2020, female teachers made up 85% of the workforce, while males comprised 15% in primary.

Female headteachers made up 74% of the headteacher workforce, with males accounting for 26%. So, just like many other sectors, proportionally there are many more men in high paid positions in primary school than women. If it was equal you would want to see 85% in a head teachers role.

Welcome to the world of DEI inclusion and the erosion of merit based fairness.

then this becomes about professional status. I may be wrong but to my mind teaching is primarily about educating which is incredibly skilled in any setting and skilled educators do deserve resepct. Doctors should be caring and the profession should be caring but in society there is an assumption the more professional you are the more remote you become from the nurturing caring side of your role (especially with seniorit y).

may be because the public assume the perception as teaching being partly a caring role they become less entitled to realistic wages etc. which maybe means perceptions need to change.

I think it’s a good thing!

And not only as women, but also in terms of discipline. From my own experiences of my son’s school, and my husband’s experience as a secondary teacher, children are better behaved when their teacher is a male. I’m not saying that’s right, and I’m not making a broad sweeping statement, but the reality is that kids are going to feel more worried about feeling the wrath of a 6ft+ male than a 5ft 2” woman.

I am a 5'2" woman and am more skilled in class and corridor management than many of my male colleagues.

@mids2019

Because it’s different when we do it!

This is the inevitable push back. NHS is the single biggest employer of women in the world yet we are pinching qualified nurses from countries that also need them and pat ourselves on the back because it diverse and progressive. Before having programs to attract more boys into caring professions which would frustratingly raise the wages of under paid female nurses.

Corridor management is hardly role model/worthy!
Some people have really missed the point of this thread.

@Coali I bet we don’t have 15% male primary heads in my LA. There’s a handful. Secondary - there are 6 single sex schools that tend to have that sex as heads. The other schools do tilt towards men but not 85% men. I do believe the governors choose the best person for the job. Many schools have had women but now have men and vice versa. It’s also partly about who wants the jobs!

Why would salaries need to increase to entice men?

My OH is a primary school teacher and he's on the same pay scale as female teachers and wouldn't expect to receive more than them. To say it's a job only women can afford to do is sexist.

But yes, higher wages in teaching full stop would be great.

Teachers are in a unique position of spending so much time with children and young people, no other profession does so it stands to reason that whether teachers like it or not it is part of the role. There are plenty of initiatives to get women into STEM roles, including teaching these subjects. They struggle massively to recruit into these roles, honestly it's not like encouraging more men into teaching is going to mean women who want to do them are going to be shoved out of the way. Reality is people who have STEM degrees can often earn more in more interesting roles; that affects recruitment of both men and women. Couldn't take you overly seriously since you said men don't understand boys more or however it was worded- of course they do.

No, it doesn't mean fewer females. There are plenty of teaching vacancies that can be filled by men before we even need to consider getting rid of any women to make way for them.

More male teachers means fewer unqualified staff being put in front of classes because we have to have a warm body there.

But yes, you won't get more men in teaching secondary until you sort out pay. And you won't get more men in primary until you sort the suspicion that surrounds men who choose to work with very young children.

And that’s why I said I wasn’t making a board sweeping statements about all female teachers. There will always be outliers to everything.

As a single parent of a girl, with mainly female family members, it was really important to me that my DD was fortunate enough to have teachers and role models in primary schools.

Just like there is a push for more female teachers in STEM subjects, there absolutely should be a push for more male primary school teachers.

Teaching is not good money for the hours and stress involved.
More male teachers will hopefully push up the salary, which then would surely push all staff members salaries up too.

Once teachers get promotion and annual increments they can soon get above £35,000. The starting salary is £31,600 which compares well with other starting salaries for degree holders. Promotion can be very rapid for the best teachers but they need to have extra responsibilities.

Aye, it's not that bad- salaries aren't the main factor in retention.

I couldn’t agree more 👏

It just seems another example of the teaching profession having to take on responsibility of greater failures in society to an extent other professions do not.

The low number of male teachers is not a new issue.
I've been working in education for decades and I've worked on projects aimed at encouraging more men into teaching. It's only making the news now because of a tv programme.

Other professions do look at these issues too but like it or not, teachers ARE role models.

We need more STEM female teachers as well as computing science, huge economic drivers for the future and it would be a shame if we dissuade bright intelligent women taking on these roles because we become too focused on getting more men in as role models.

How is encouraging more men into teaching going to do this?
It's a separate issue.

To me though it is against the grain teaching primarily is about the professionalism of teaching and the partial element though important isn't the main aspect of the tole.

Are you at teacher? Do you train teachers?

To give a parallel consultant doctors work in a caring role but most of their job they would describe as highly skilled responsible decision making rather than softer skills. In a sense rightly or wrongly professionalism does get associated.with these qualities.

What's the obsession with doctors? It's not comparable. How many young people spend hours a day, 5 days a week with a doctor?
And soft skills are important in many professions. There isn't a one size fits all approach to professionalism.

But being a role model is part of a teacher's job. A big part of it. I taught in a very deprived area for 10 years and most of the children had not one positive male role model in their life. A large number had unknown fathers, fathers and other male family members in prison, been abandoned by their fathers. That formed their definition of what a man is. I do believe that having a male to trust and build a relationship with would massively help the state of boys' self esteem, perhaps preventing cultures such as incel evolving in the first place. Boys are turning to these men as a guide as they often have no-one else.
We had only 2 male teachers in my school (out of 40 staff) in the decade I was there and sadly both of them were not good teachers. Teaching is a complex role, with lots of overtime and spinning plates but I think when it comes to men it attracts those who are looking for an 'easy' job. I have met quite a few excellent male teachers though, just not seen it for myself in practice.

may be because the public assume the perception as teaching being partly a caring role they become less entitled to realistic wages etc. which maybe means perceptions need to change.

But it is party a 'caring' role. Teachers need to be able to undertake some pastoral duties. They don't just swan in, teach their subject, and leave. That's not how it works.

@Cucy Men and women teachers do exactly the same job. More men doesn’t affect pay in teaching unless you believe men deserve more promotion.

Many jobs have challenges and most don’t get the long holidays. Yes, they are more generous than other jobs and every teacher I know takes the vast majority of them. The heads tend not to and some of them work very hard. It’s also not a career anyone enters without sampling it first. We have all been to school. We know what it’s like. That’s probably what puts people off most.

I have two sons and a daughter - there was ONE male primary school teacher at the school they went to and about 25 women. Bit more balanced at secondary school. Many boys in some areas do not have positive older male role models at home, male teachers can provide that and it is so important that we try to get away from this stupid idea that only women can be primary teachers.

DD has now left school and is in her second year of a primary school teaching degree, there are about 100 in her year. The cohort is 98% white, 98% middle class, 98% female. There is a big push for teachers to be more representative of the communities where they will be working and quite right too.

Agree. And many are lazy and crap