The ‘exceptional male teacher’ and the ‘vulnerable male student’: constructions of men and masculinities in vocational education and training in Estonia

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article takes a critical perspective on the construction of men and masculinities in vocational education and training (VET). We focus on ways in which key stakeholders in VET – teachers, heads of schools and VET experts – conceptualise men as educators and learners in VET, drawing on the case of Estonia. We identified two related discourses produced by the stakeholders which we labelled as ‘the exceptional male teacher’ and ‘the vulnerable male student’, which draw on and support the broader discourse of ‘feminisation of education’ prevalent in many Western societies. Treating men as exceptional, vulnerable and deserving special attention in VET leaves unchallenged and reproduces male privilege and endorses traditional ways of doing masculinity in this context. Such an institutional environment produced by the VET stakeholders may not be conducive to the emergence of more egalitarian masculinities in VET schools. More broadly, these two discourses on men in VET have important implications for gendered power relations and possibilities to advance gender equality in VET and in the labour market.