Male primary school teachers

[Chuvak]

Hi all

I've joined Mumsnet specifically to post this thread and ask for your views.

I'm a 36-year-old married male with a 7 year old DD and I'm considering becoming a primary school teacher. I work full-time and will finish my part-time degree this year. I want to become a teacher for all the right reasons: I genuinely like children and education and have seen my daughter flourish at her school with good teachers.

My only concern is how males can be perceived being around younger children. The only time I hear about male teachers in the media is when inappropriate contact has been made which (perhaps not unreasonably) affects how the public view them.

I've done some finance workshops in primary schools as part of my current bank career and have spoken to teachers about their jobs, so I know how difficult their jobs can be.

So AIBU in worrying how I could be judged as a male primary school teacher?

P.S. I've posted on Mumsnet because the majority of interaction between teachers and their students' parents is with Mums.

Thanks in advance and please be honest with your views.

I think men make great primary school teachers.

Here’s the kind of sexist fawning that really pisses me off.

All men make great teachers? Some of my male colleagues are great. Others are rubbish. Exactly the same as my female colleagues.

Thank you everyone for all your input. You've all made some great points which I'll certainly think about. As a few of you have pointed out - regardless of gender children just need good, comitted and competent teachers. I think my next step will be to gain experience in the classroom as a TA to see if a teaching career is right for me. Thanks again.

I have DC at primary school and LOVE a male teacher. As do my sons.

Big fan here.

DS’s school has a male head and a male year 4 teacher- both are fab.

Here’s the kind of sexist fawning that really pisses me off. All men make great teachers? Some of my male colleagues are great. Others are rubbish. Exactly the same as my female colleagues.

Well said!!

I think men make great primary school teachers

Christ alive.

Some do. Some don’t.

With attitudes like yours, it’s easy to see why a disproportionate number of men are fast-tracked into leadership positions in primary schools.

You should be ashamed of yourself.

My favourite primary school teacher was a man, I don't think it should make any difference as long as you are competent, caring and good at your job. Best of luck with your new career.

Neither of my DDs has ever had a male primary class teacher.

But I do think it is good to have both sexes represented at primary school, and especially for children with absentee fathers to have good male role models.

(Also helpful for the school for things like swimming lessons and residential trips.)

The best teacher my ds has all through primary was Male.

It's obviously idiotic to say 'Men make good primary teachers'. However, at my village primary, two of the four teachers are male and they are both great and very well-liked.

The best teacher my ds has all through primary was male

Because he was a good teacher, not because he was a man.

Don't be put off. If you want to move into teaching then do it.

In my experience male teachers always seem to get put in upper ks2 (which is a bit annoying to me as it risks sending a message of now you are big and doing big learning for SATS you can have a man teaching you. It could be coincidence though

I nearly chose another nursery for DD because it had a couple of men working there.

I also had a HT and a P3 I think teacher who was a man and I think it brought great balance to the school.

My cousin's DH is also a P7 teacher. And I would have no qualms about it.

I wouldn’t think anything of it aslong as the teacher is good it doesn’t matter if they are male or female. One of the best teachers I ever had in primary school was male.

Well yes purple I thought that was a given by the OP asked if people found it weird to have Male primary teachers

My DS has a male teacher (Y3 and now again Y4) and has really flourished in this time for having a positive male role model. Personally I would find it disappointing if an entire primary school was only staffed by women. There are several other male teachers at his school and they are all well liked and respected. My DD is going there soon and I will be equally happy for her to be taught by any one of the men as well as the female teachers.
If you want to do it, then go for it!

Ds(14) had male primary teachers for 3 of his 7 years. My personal thoughts are they varied in quality of teaching, but so did the female teachers. There were 3 teachers in his primary that are outstanding, 2 female and one male, but I was pleased he had a good male teacher one year as it was a positive male role model for him and for some balance in a more female dominated area.

Are you aware of how shit teaching is at the moment? I'd look into that first.

However, you're pretty much guaranteed most jobs due to the presence of your penis, so if you don't mind how crap things are at the moment, go for it!

My son had two male teachers in Yr1 and Yr2 - they were excellent ! I think we need more males teaching primary

"However, you're pretty much guaranteed most jobs due to the presence of your penis, so if you don't mind how crap things are at the moment, go for it!"
It definitely doesn't guarantee you a job. I know a number of male NQTs who've failed to find posts, one of them a superb teacher.

The male teachers I know get a lot less grief from the parents.

My ds has the BEST male reception teacher. My dd had him the year before and all the parents are very happy with him. Before that my son had a male nursery teacher. We were happy with him as well. The thought of it being strange for them to be male primary teachers never crossed my mind. There are also teacher assistants there in case people have worries, so its not like it is a male teacher left alone with all the young children.

Years ago when looking to move dd from a failing primary school we had two other schools to choose from and the male class teacher of one swung it for us. He was young and enthusiastic and I knew dd would love him. So while it was his personality rather than his sex which was the appeal his sex certainly didn’t put me off.

And I believe the evidence shows primary male teachers have a very positive affect on boys.

All this fawning over male teachers is really unpleasant and sexist. All children deserve to have GOOD or OUTSTANDING teachers, regardless of whether they are male or female.

I've worked with brilliant teachers, both male and female, and I've worked with crap teachers, both male and female. Whether they are crap or brilliant is absolutely nothing to do with being male or female.

I do think it’s a good idea for children to see men in caring professions. And it’s also a good idea for boys to see learning (reading in particular) modeled by men. However I do think male teachers have a sort of glamour for some parents- I have seen behaviour called “taking no nonsense” in men that would be called “shouty” in women.