Jayne Dowle: Schools in need of a man about the classroom

If you think that, in a big school of around 300 pupils, this doesn’t sound a lot, consider this. A quarter of primary schools in England does not even have a registered male teacher, and there are just 48 male teachers in state nurseries, according to new figures from the General Teaching Council. I am constantly surprised that our chap in foundation doesn’t attract bus trips of educationalists from miles around. Especially when you discover that he is a former steel-worker in his fifties, who came into teaching after redundancy.

But he wouldn’t want any fuss. He just gets on with it. I’ve noticed this about all the male teachers both my children have come into contact with. They seem to be the kind of team-players who don’t expect special treatment because of their sex, and who don’t bridle at having a woman for a boss. I’ve often wondered if the matriarchy that clearly exists in many establishments is what puts young male graduates off becoming primary school teachers. To be honest, I’m a woman, and having witnessed the thinly-veiled power struggles so often rife in staff-rooms, I’m not sure I would want to work under that kind of regime either. I can say this because some of my friends are primary school teachers, hence the evidence, but frankly, a group of women cloistered together, five days a week, on a school site with no other distractions, can be a recipe for the kind of bitchiness, side-taking, mean put-downs and petty bullying that you won’t have seen since your own school days in the fourth form. I have heard of grown women reduced to tears over how paper should be torn for papier mache. I can see why a bloke might run for the nearest mixed comp.

But then again, primary school teaching is still a (relatively) well-paid and secure job. The prospect of working in a nest of vipers can’t be the only thing that deters a brave young man. I guess that the inevitable issue of child protection is an issue. I know from talking to male teaching staff that there are parents who are instinctively worried about this kind of thing, and who have been known to raise concerns with head teachers. But, awful though it is to be reminded, the most recent cases of child abuse in nurseries have been perpetuated by women workers. So if nothing else, the false assumption that it is always men has been challenged.

Perhaps it’s the thought that working with the youngest of children wouldn’t be enough of a challenge. Ha. That is most definitely where they would be wrong. Questions, opinions, “what would you do if….?” If my own son turned round to me in 10 years and told me that he wanted to be a teacher, I would try my damnedest to persuade him to work with primary age, because I think that this is where men are needed the most. Kids at this stage are desperate for role models, and strong male role models are what they are most desperate for. They are forming their view of the world through how others see it. School has such a huge influence over our children, and we shouldn’t under-estimate that. The boys in Jack’s class hero-worshipped their last teacher, and he was hardly a tough-guy. But he loved football and organised an inter-school game, and when they did the Second World War, he built an air-raid shelter in the classroom like a den.

For the children lucky enough to have a dad at home or a father figure in their life, he was like an especially cool older cousin. For the children on their own with their mother, he was proof that men can be a good thing, and that was for the girls as well as the boys. Some children are growing up without ever hearing a man’s name unless it is accompanied by an expletive. What kind of pattern does that set for their own future relationships? If they can remember that Mr Smith in juniors was decent, even though he was a bloke, it might just help. This, potentially, has long-term consequences for society and for David Cameron’s urge to improve family life.

But I don’t think this shortage of male teachers can be solved by any kind of government policy or recruitment drive. Those things always seem to backfire, or turn into a colossal waste of money. So I say, come on lads. There is a job to be done out there. Don’t be scared. We parents will welcome you with open arms, and once you get your head round the biscuit rota, you might even get a seat in the staff-room.