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.

We have 4 male teachers at our primary school, 2 in key stage 1 and there is no issue. They are very good.

Plenty of male teachers at my kids primary school.

tBH I never even think about it...it’s totally normal

Yep, Male teachers are very much in demand. You’ll be fawned over because you’re a man doing that job, many parents will insist that their child just responds better to you because you’re a man, and you’ll be on the senior leadership team before you know it.

Sorry that sounds snippy! I’m not entirely serious (let’s say 85%) but I have worked with many male teachers and that has tended to be the case. I think they probably do get the odd dickhead that just think it’s ‘weird’ that a man would want to work with young children, particularly if you end up in Key Stage 1 or Early Years, but I would hope (and male colleagues and friends have found this to be the case) that they would be very much in the minority.

Eldest DD had a male teacher for YR4, she still talks about what a great school year that was.
He was a great teacher and brought out the best in each pupil. Gutted he left for another school when he moved house.

The primary school I attended from 1993-1996 had male teachers in (I think) Year 3, Year 4, Year 6 and the head was also male. They were all fine, one in particular did lots of history and really sparked my interest in it. Go for it!

In my all female staff room there is frequent "what that class could do with is a male teacher", "we would really benefit from a male head", etc etc. You'll likely be in demand.

Loads of male teachers at my kids primary - they are outnumbered by women still but nobody cares whether their child has a male of female teacher tbh. Both of my kids would say their favourite teachers over the years have been ones who were male actually but that’s nothing to do with them being men and more the fact they were great with the kids, really got to know them properly and made lessons fun.

Quite a few male teachers at my DC's school. I've never heard any suggestion about them being dodgy in any way. They're liked by the kids and parents. Personally I'm happy that my DC have male role models as well as female at school.

Thank you all for your comments -both teachers and parents. The vast majority of your comments have been really positive which has allayed some of my concerns.

I was at my wife's friend's wedding reception last Saturday and got speaking to a very nice newly qualified teacher who gave me some great advice. She really had a lot of patience because I was almost interrogating the poor woman :)

One thing from all of your posts that shares a common theme is that children just need enthusiastic, committed and competent teachers. Yes, good male role models certainly help, but they have to be recruited on their merits.

With that in mind, I'll start with some volunteering in a school first before making a decision so that I know its the right career for me (and the children!)

I'm an ex primary school teacher (I jumped ship lol), so have worked with a few male teachers.
However my ds's (14 & 18) had male teachers for 3 years (different year groups) during primary school. The one they had for year 1 though was amazing. The children all loved him, the parents loved, he was so natural with the children that you would think he had 8 of his own (no children and only in his early 20's). The children are still little at that age, and he really nurtured them and would think nothing of giving them a cuddle if they were upset, exactly the same as the female teachers would do. Which in this day and age I know there is so many do's and don'ts, around this. But he genuinely cared about his class and it was evident in how much the children came on when with him.
But I can honestly say, I have never once heard a parent raise any concerns about their children being taught by a male teacher.
Anyway good luck to you! Get some experience and try different schools, that can be an eye opener. If you are allowed, also arrive at the same time as your class teacher and leave at the same time. It will give you an idea of what they are doing before and after school, and see how much they are taking home with them. Also when I was doing my 'pre visits' before my degree, if my class teacher wasn't staying long, I would go and see if any other teachers needed any help- my hand used to be bitten off to help with displays etc. It also gives you some experience in this as you don't realise how time consuming it can be (especially if there school has few TA's to help with this).

As a mum of 2 boys I don't think there are enough male teachers in primary schools. One of my sons did have a male teacher in reception and he was excellent and really helped my son settle in as he struggled at first.

Years later when they got to years 5/6 the male teacher was also better at handling the 'problem' children - a few boys who were a bit wild as they had no discipline at home and were fighting a lot and being disruptive in class. I don't want to stereotype as there was also a female teacher who was good at handing these boys, but there was also a female teacher who couldn't handle them, kept bursting into tears in class and subsequently left.

I’ve worked with male primary school teachers and my son had an amazing male primary teacher.

These days some children simply do not have male role models at home and I think that more male primary teachers are needed.

The male teachers I have/do work with are fantastic and well respected.