Male Students on Primary Initial Teacher Education Courses

Abstract

For a few decades in the twentieth century the focus in the context of gender issues was specifically on how girls and women were adversely affected in areas such as education and employment. As would be appropriate in a true consideration of aspects of gender, attention has turned to bringing boys and men into the framework. This chapter highlights one specific context. In England and Wales 20 per cent of primary teachers and approximately 10 per cent of primary BEd students are male. Research suggests that in England, around 80 per cent of primary teachers are female but around 50 per cent of head teachers are male. While males may have very successful primary school teaching careers they are much more likely to fail or withdraw from their initial training course. There is concern about this gender imbalance. This chapter discusses ongoing research which is focused on initial teacher education course entrance and experience that explores these gender patterns in the background of structured gender inequalities in the British educational labour market. By analysing perceptions of male students, issues regarding the strength of stereotyping emerge which may provide real challenges for educators and policy makers. This chapter also demonstrates the incompleteness of an equation which aims to solve a problem simply by targeting an increase in number.