nan Cruickshank

Towards a measure of gender-related challenges faced by male primary teachers

Debate about teacher gender balance in primary education is a constant. This debate is fuelled by recommendations to increase recruitment and retainment of males into primary education. In parallel, 10-year trend data indicate a continual decrease in male primary school teachers. Although many factors contribute to the decreasing percentage of male primary teachers, one factor is the gender-related challenges they face in their profession. Previous research has identified some of these challenges; however, a limitation of these claims is contextual and individually bound data derived from qualitative research methods. Large-scale interventions have not been realised as current trends are unable to be generalised to the wider population of male primary teachers. Thus, the aim of this paper is to expand upon previous literature through discussing the development and validation of a scale which quantifies the gender-related challenges faced by male primary teachers.

The Challenges Faced By Male Primary Teachers

What is an appropriate structure for reporting a study of male primary teachers, following a constructivist paradigm, and adopting a mixed methodology?

Male primary teachers’ fear and uncertainty surrounding physical contact

ABSTRACT Young children often look to their teachers for affection and acceptance, particularly if they are sick or upset. However, many male primary teachers do not feel comfortable with this aspect of their role. Consequently, many men choose not to make physical contact with their students in order to protect themselves from accusations of inappropriate behaviour. Using a mixed methodology of survey and interviews, this research provides an in-depth analysis of the fear and uncertainty male primary teachers experience in relation to physical contact, and the key factors that contribute to its difficulty.