Few male teachers

Press, 24 November 1979, Page 25

Few male teachers

The low number of males entering primary school teacher training was a disturbing trend that was causing concern to many in the Education Department, according to members of the Canterbury Education Board. At a board meeting yesterday, Mrs N. J. Johnson said the national selection committee, recruiting officers, and vocational guidance counsellors, were acutely aware of the problem. It was society’s image of primary teaching and not the selection and recruitment of trainees which was the real problem. The same percentage of males and females who applied were successful, said Mrs John- j son. I

Of the 80 per cent of this year’s primary school teacher trainee quota notified, the ratio of males to females was 16.5 per cent, she said. ‘‘This ratio is very low and is a disturbing trend.” Parents often discouraged their sons from entering primary teacher training and it was noticeable that few applications were received from single-sex male schools this year, she said. People were leaving primary teaching and immediately receiving a sizeable increase in salary, and improved employment conditions. For the last seven or eight years, the national selection committee had been “crying out” for ways to overcome the problem, said Mrs Johnson.

“The committee cannot take inferior males and leave out some top quality females. They must take the best possible teachers regardless of sex.” A member of the board, Mr R. F. Armstrong, said the problem had reached a serious stage in many primary schools where there were only one or two male teachers. ’

Many primary school principals in the board’s district were concerned about the shortage. The lack of male influence was especially important for children from solo-parent homes, he said. The proportion of male to female teachers in primary schools was about one in six, said Mr Armstrong.