7.30 Report - 10/12/1999: Shortage of male primary school teachers

The 7.30 Report


	Transcript 10/12/1999 Shortage of male primary school teachers KERRY O'BRIEN: For decades the teaching profession has been dominated by women, particularly at the primary school level. But in recent years, the number of male teachers has plummeted to a point where many primary schools have no men on staff. As a result, parents and teachers say many young children have no male role models outside their families -- a problem compounded by the high number of single-parent families. So why are men turning away from teaching? A new study suggests fear of being labelled a paedophile, believe it or not, is a major concern, along with the perception that teaching young children is 'women's work'. The study, by the Australian Catholic University, aims to find ways of encouraging men back into the classroom. Mick Bunworth reports: DANIEL KNEIPP, STUDENT TEACHER: It comes down to whether it's worth having people look at you while you're working with children, what do you want to gain out of it. There's become almost a phobia of men dealing with children and I think it's sad. MICK BUNWORTH: It's a vocation that over the past decade has managed to attract too few good men. Bureau of Statistics figures show the number of male primary school teachers around Australia has dropped by 4 per cent since 1987, while the number of female teachers has risen by 21 per cent. ED LEWIS, AUSTRALIAN CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY: If you look at the numbers of males in training across the whole of Australia, the numbers appear to be as stable as they have been at any stage in the last 20 years. But there is enough anecdotal evidence around I think, to believe that there is a trend on and the trend is going to take off. MICK BUNWORTH: Ed Lewis worked on a report by the Australian Catholic University which sought to go beyond the ABS data and find out why fewer young men are taking up primary school teaching. ED LEWIS: They had concerns in relation to -- what I called masculinity and child protection issues. They saw themselves as having something to offer as men in schools, but also experienced a conflict and a tension in performing work that was largely -- society regarded at any rate -- as largely as 'women's business'. Of course there was the fear really that was manifest throughout the interviews that I had with these students of the fear of being labelled a paedophile. MICK BUNWORTH: 24-year-old early childhood development student Daniel Kneipp understands this fear. He says the irony is that male teachers may be the best people to teach young children how to avoid abuse. DANIEL KNEIPP: So, there's a paradox where the fact that they're not having positive male role models as teachers is going to increase the chance of them having some sort of abuse. But it's this perception of children getting abused that's keeping the men out of education positions. MICK BUNWORTH: In a nation with 1 million single-parent households, most of them run by mothers, the lack of daily contact with a male role model in the schoolyard has some mums worried. LYN REDDEN: Especially through adolescence, I think things happen day-to-day. They mightn't want to wait until they get home and ring their father -- even though he's a fantastic dad to them -- they need someone immediately sometimes that they could actually go to and discuss things. MICK BUNWORTH: 14-year-old Andrew Reddon graduated from a primary school staffed entirely by female teachers. ANDREW REDDEN: It's difficult talking to a female about what you did on the weekend. If you played football, like, and to say if you weren't good they wouldn't really care because they're not really interested in sport but males are and they, yeah, talk to you and stuff about that. CHRIS SCOTT, PRINCIPAL: Men bring a dynamic that is qualitatively different and I think that's important for both girls and boys, but the more we delve into this area, I think the more important it is for little boys themselves. There are things called -- and I'll use a cliched term -- of "boys' and men's business" -- and there are those connections need to be made very positively and with a lack of males, it's not there. MALE TEACHER: Just keep going with what you're up to. CHRIS SCOTT: We know that when the grade lists go up each year, "Who's going to get Frank?" Frank's a very sought-after commodity at North Fitzroy Primary School. MICK BUNWORTH: Frank Flynn has been a primary school teacher for 23 years. He welcomes more open discussion of thorny issues like sexual abuse, but concedes it has affected the way he reacts with his students. FRANK FLYNN, TEACHER:: It is, because if you're trying to have an open and a gentle relationship with kids, because kids come up and want to touch you and it's -- you really have to fold the arms and just step back. I think in that sense you can put a barrier there that probably wouldn't be there normally. MICK BUNWORTH: But the head of Victoria's main teachers union says of the State's 35,000 teachers, just six have been dismissed for sexual misconduct in the past 12 months. MARY BLUETT, EDUCATION UNION: The statistics don't reveal a significant increase, in fact, an increase at all in terms of sexual assault by teachers. I suspect that's what's happening, though, is that those who do occur are getting greater media coverage and certainly that is impacting upon how males view entry into the profession. They don't want to be part of a profession where males are going to be under much greater scrutiny in relation to their relationships with students. MICK BUNWORTH: But fear of labelling may be just one reason why young men have turned away from the profession. CHRIS SCOTT: I think there are a number of fundamental things. One is governments have to value what teachers do. They have to be very supportive of teaching being a vocation. People don't get into teaching for the money. They get into it because they really want to work with young people. You need to commensurate them financially in the proper manner and you need for the community to have a greater sense of value of what teachers do. When you get all those things, then we've got more males in the system. Transcripts on this website are created by an independent transcription service. The ABC does not warrant the accuracy of the transcripts.