Female Teachers and The Teaching of Boys

[zanzibarmum]

I know the teachers on the site will not agree but does the largely female (most single with no kids?) teaching force struggle to understand our boys and engage them in learning. What are the views of parents.
As a mum of both girls and boys my experience is that many normal, well behaved boys get a raw deal from some of the teachers though it is not of course something you raise with teachers for fear of getting your head bitten off - I know my own sister who's a teacher had a go! Views

Top girl, twin

You're the teacher I'm talking about.

Ignoring the huge generalisations from some posters, I am a teacher amd a mum of three boys.

Teachers are teachers - good, bad, male, female. I think you have to be very careful assuming that young, single female teachers don't know how to engage boys in their learning.

I love teaching - and boys are different to girls - but the most important thing is that one child is different to any other child, whether they are male or female and it is that which a good teacher, regardless of age or gender, will hook on to.

FWIW I am very much a 'boys' person - lots of mates who are male, I 'get' boys better than girls, but that doesn't make me a lesser teacher of girls as I am a professional interested in getting the best out of each child.

just to pick up on the line 'boys learn in different ways' - I thikn children learn in different ways. Give me a class of boys and I will show you several different learning styles and interests

I agree. I think you are on dodgy ground if you assume a learning style from a child's sex. There may well be trends, but there are no hard and fast rules. I wouldnt have suited coursework at all for example. I'm the last minute queen.

I agree popsy.

ah popsy, now this is where the thread should be...

Interesting thread!

Yes, I have generalized, but I tend to do this on MN in order to get a good reponse. It's a ruse, but those who know me well enough get my gist.

It is better to court controversy than to tow the line, no?

Generalisation can generate debate, but it can also offend....it is a fine line sometimes

Oh, I don't give a shit about offending, or fine lines.

If someone posts a thread, they're up for it.

Not meaning you specifically, Desi. Although,

Desi - just re-read your post about what you want from female teachers - you need to be in my lesson about mummification

Excellent, Pop

My boy is totally obsessed with mummies!

Find a really big tent peg. Then role play the getting the brain out bit Not for real of course

Hi,
I wrote a feature about this for the Times including an interview with Sue Palmer who is an ex-head and education adviser and has just written a book called 21st Century Boys. It's quite interesting. If you want it, to to www.timesonline and put Nicola Pearson in the search and it will come up.
bw

I think that children at the Primary level should be taught by both men and women. I believe, from my observation of the male and female teachers who've taught my ds's during their primary years, that men and women have different teaching styles, and that it benefits both the boys and the girls to have contact with male teachers before senior school.

For what it's worth, a good teacher needs to be able to understand the learning styles,needs and motivations of both boys and girls - and this isn't something you can learn from books, imo.

My dad was a secondary school maths teacher, and I well remember him telling me that his experience of my sister and myself as we grew up had taught him far more about how girls think and react than he'd learned in teacher training.

For example, he said that the majority of boys would accept unquestioningly the statement that the two halves of something are equal in size, whereas girls will argue that, in practical terms, halving something so exactly that the two halves are identical is not possible.

(Disclaimer: the above anecdotes are based on my father's teaching experience and my recollection of things he told me - but their veracity cannot be checked without the assistance of a medium).

interesting , idealist - thanks

How annoying, that piece doesn't seem to be coming up online... anyway, anyone interested in reading more - 21st Century Boys by Sue Palmer, about how boys are educated in this country, should be out v. soon, published by Orion.
It's about a risk-adverse society and also that alot of current teachers were educated and shaped in the politics of the 70s when masculinity became an embarrassment...

Is Sue Palmer the same Sue Palmer who writes the literacy support skeleton books?

yes janeite, the same.

She seems to seek controversy in the books she writes.

Really? In what ways?

Would you possibly be willing to post an Amazon link when the book comes out: I have a bit of an interest in the teaching of boys (once met the marvellous Graham Frater re: this) and used to run boys' mentoring in school.

hmmm, just a feeling I've picked up. I've still not read Toxic Childhodd so I can't really comment. I read an article with her re boys' education and none of it was backed up by any robust facts or research.

I do want to read them though. I could be wrong. Her educational stuff is vaery good.

I think the implication that boys are more active/less mature etc does a disservice to both boys and girls.

I think ALL children benefit from having the chance to race around and ALL children learn and develop at different rates.

Suggesting that teachers don't understand boys is too general. You need to consider the needs of each child as an individual rather than by their gender. A good teacher will realise which child needs to run around, which is shy and needs more coaxing etc etc.

I agree that more men in early years can only be a good thing, especially if children lack male role models. But male teachers don't necessarily mean better teachers, agaiin - some teachers are better than others, regardless of gender.

Good post bran. idealist we already debated that Times article. I guess you could search for the thread if you wanted.

Desi I think you are talking crap. It is perfectly possible to be feminine and strong. If anyone cannot cope with a classroom when they have their period (or for any other reason) then they should choose another career, because the behavour you are describing would be totally unprofessional.

I am not concerned about whether my children are taught by male or female teachers, although I was interested to see if there was any difference for my ds being taught by a man this year. I haven't noticed anything different, although I am glad to say he is clearly a good teacher. But then luckily my children have had a collection of good teachers. ds in general prefers those that are more affectionate (he would have done anything for the very young, single and really quite female teacher he had in yr2 for example) and dd likes those who are quite strict (she likes the classroom to be orderly so she can get on with impressing the teacher with how grown up she is).

My children are more than their gender, and so are their teachers. I want them to be taught by good teachers, unblinkered by sexual stereotypes, who can expand their horizons, not shrink them.

I went to an all girls school from 11-15, and had some really quite poor male teachers (amougst a generally mixed bunch, male and female) some of whom found teenage girls very difficult to handle. I then went to boys school (girls sixth form) and saw some poor male teachers there too (I didn't have any female teachers there, so can't compare), who didn't know how to handle boys from what I could see (no discipline, and accepted some really poor behaviour). Interesting that boys schools generally get worse results, and ship in girls to get better A levels. This was 20 years ago, so not the so called "feminised" curricular of today.

I do however think that most work environments benefit from a mix of different people, male and female, different backgrounds and different ages. Much healthier, with less potential for cliques and other unpleasantness.

Here's the Amazon link for Sue Palmer's new book as mentioned by Idealist.
21 Century boys
I'll read it. I actually thought 'Toxic Childhood' was pretty good. I found her insights into what we now call 'The Underclass' both interesting and profoundly worrying.