A significant majority of elementary teachers in the US are female. And a common concern among education stakeholders is why male elementary teachers are so rare compared to their female counterparts. So, what could be the contributing factors to this issue?
Male educators are uncommon in elementary schools due to gender stereotypes, mistrust, and low remunerations. Moreover, society hasn’t yet entirely accepted that men can easily offer young children the necessary emotional and material support that women provide.
In the rest of this article, I’ll further dive into why few men teach in elementary schools, the importance of having more male educators, and how to encourage more men to train as elementary school educators. Read through the following sections to get more insights.
Why There Are Few Male Elementary Teachers
According to data
from a 2017-2018 study, out of 1.8 million elementary school teachers, only 11% were male, highlighting the clear shortage of male educators. Therefore, you might wonder what discourages male teachers from working at the elementary level.
Some of the factors that contribute to there being so few male elementary teachers include the following:
Stereotyping of Gender Roles
Traditionally, handling young children has typically been considered a woman’s job. Teaching young learners requires a lot of patience, love, care, and compassion that men are stereotyped to lack. Furthermore, many people don’t believe that men are good at offering the emotional support that young children require.
In most cultures (including America), being very caring is consciously or unconsciously considered feminine. Teaching elementary school often requires the same personality traits as teaching kindergarten. Some of these traits include:
- Babysitting
- Sitting and writing on the floor
- Reciting children’s songs and poems
Therefore, the profession attracts few men since most people regard these activities as feminine.
As a result, until men and society consider caring a positive part of men’s personality, the problem of having a small number of male educators in elementary schools will not end soon.
Moreover, in elementary school, some learners are young and face a lot of issues that the teacher has to deal with. For example, they wet their pants and need changing from time to time, while others require toilet training. Traditionally, we’ve regarded these as women’s tasks.
Additionally, society considers teaching elementary students a low social status job. Since most people feel the job to be of low occupational prestige, it is largely left to women, leaving men to go for jobs that society regards as high status.
Here is a YouTube video that demonstrates what happens in a typical elementary class and the challenges elementary educators face in their day-to-day work:
Historical Factors
In the 1600s, teaching was predominantly an occupation for young females. The National Women’s History Museum stated that teaching positions were reserved for native women who were not married.
On the other hand, men grew up understanding that teaching was for women. Thus, they were to undertake labor-intensive jobs and white-collar jobs. To date, breaking these historical beliefs has still not been easy as they have remained firmly embedded, especially in elementary education.
During the industrial revolution, men had to work on farms and factories, leaving women to care for the children at home. As a result, most men lost touch with the caring and nurturing of children. Unfortunately, these are essential skills teachers require while teaching in elementary school.
Mistrust Against Men Working With Young Children
People will easily question the motive of a man who wants to be near children most of the time. Rampant reported cases of sexual harassment of young girls and boys by men have eroded society’s trust in men caring for young children.
Therefore, most parents do not trust male teachers with their young children in elementary schools.
For example, if a mother gets to a classroom and finds a child leaning against a male teacher as they read together, she becomes suspicious. However, if it were a female teacher, the mother would be comfortable with it.
Society hasn’t accepted that men can share intimate moments even with their children at home. So, any close contact between a male teacher and a young learner raises eyebrows.
Moreover, we haven’t reached a time when most men show care and guardianship for children rather than just being providers and protectors. As a result, accepting men in careers traditionally viewed as belonging to women remains a tall order.
Low Pay
Teaching is not a well-paying job in the United States. In addition, elementary school teachers earn less than high school teachers.
Traditionally, men are expected to be providers for their families. Therefore, if a man is the sole breadwinner in his family, he may not want to be an elementary school teacher because the salary won’t be high enough for him to take care of his family.
Moreover, men prefer jobs associated with high earnings and status. Therefore, the average salaries for elementary school teachers in different states of America are too low to attract them. As a result, more women are likely to work as elementary school educators than men.
Why Is It Important To Have Male Elementary Teachers?
It is important to have male elementary teachers because their presence creates gender balance and provides father figures, especially to children that lack them at home.
Here are some of the main advantages of having more male teachers in elementary schools:
Male Teachers Are Father Figures
Children need to interact with authority figures of both genders for proper growth. However, in some cases, this is not possible, especially in single-parent families.
Male teachers can turn into father figures to children from single-mother families or those coming from dysfunctional family dynamics.
Male Teachers Are Role Models
Sometimes, society paints men as violent, careless, and heartless. However, trained male educators provide learners with an opportunity to interact with men that have broken these societal male stereotypes. Therefore, learners have non-violent men to observe and learn from.
Having more male teachers in elementary education carrying out caring roles can help learners counter gender roles that have been sex-stereotyped for ages. As a result, this will advance gender equality.
Having Both Genders Creates a Conducive Work Environment
A workplace where one gender dominates has some shortcomings. So male teachers can inject some unique energy and attitude into staff rooms and education centers that have previously had more female teachers.
Such institutions will also have a better gender balance and encourage more desirable behaviors. Consequently, this environment will be beneficial to the growth and development of young girls and boys.
Men Enhance Learning of Certain Skills
Men facilitate the learning and acquisition of specific skills in young children. Due to their (generally) bigger stature, they might be able to better engage children in physical activities and sports.
As a result, more male educators in elementary schools will promote acquiring various skills, enhancing holistic development.
How To Encourage More Male Educators in Elementary Schools
It’s vital to have male educators in elementary schools. Therefore, the government and other education stakeholders should develop programs encouraging more men to train as elementary teachers. These can include incentives that motivate men to train as elementary educators.
Here are some strategies that stakeholders can apply to encourage men to teach elementary school:
Enticing Men To Join the Profession
School administrations and universities can reach out to as many males as possible to join the teaching profession as elementary educators. For instance, universities can develop fellowships designed explicitly for male elementary teachers, as Missouri University once did.
The institution launched a program dubbed ‘Mizzou’s Men for Excellence in Elementary Teaching’ (MMEET) to encourage qualified men to pursue elementary education. Moreover, it aims to enlighten them about men’s challenges while teaching in elementary schools.
Better Pay for the Teachers
Since low pay is one of the main reasons men don’t apply for teaching positions in elementary schools, better salaries would make a world of difference. The government should review elementary school teachers’ salaries to attract more men (and women) into the profession. Moreover, colleges and universities should initiate incentives that will encourage men to enroll.
Change the Narrative
We must do away with the narrative that elementary education is for women. Furthermore, it would help if we removed the social stigma that men can’t nurture, conduct a read-aloud, or sing with small children.
In addition, we should lead a campaign on the importance of male elementary teachers to the learning and development of our children. And the best avenues for this initiative include all media; print, nonprint, and social media.
Lastly, we should embrace existing programs such as NYC MenTeach, which aims to increase the number of men teachers in general.
Changing the narrative might be the most difficult solution out of the three, but it will undoubtedly have the longest-lasting impact.
Conclusion
Male elementary teachers are uncommon due to a variety of socio-cultural factors. Unfortunately, this can be harmful to the education system on multiple levels. Therefore, it would help if education stakeholders were involved in finding a lasting solution to this problem so that more men would consider joining the profession.
Sources
- NCES: Characteristics of Public School Teachers
- National Women’s History Museum: Each Time a Girl Opens a Book and Reads a Womanless History, She Learns She is Worthless
- HRZone: What is Occupational Prestige?
- Youtube: Occupational Video – Elementary Teacher
- Core: Addressing the Lack of Male Elementary School Teachers: Factors That Influence Grade-Level Preference
- National Geographic: The Industrial Revolution
- Marian University: Male Teachers Play an Important Role in the Future of Education
- Chalkbeat: There aren’t Enough Men Teaching Elementary School. Here’s Why We Must Change that – and Why We Must
- The Alberta Teachers’ Association: Living with Contradictions: The Male Elementary Teacher
- XY Online: Male Primary Teachers and Perceptions of Masculinity
- Zip Recruiter: How Much Do Elementary School Teacher Jobs Pay per Month?
- Enko Education:10 Tips to Provide Emotional Support to Children
- Google Books: It’s Time for a Change: School Reform for the Next Decade
- Today’s Parent: The importance of Male Teachers
- Hekupu: Gender Balance in Early Childhood Education: Reasons for the Lack of Male Involvement, Encouraging Men into Early Childhood Teaching, and the Impact on Children, Families, Colleagues, and the Early Childhood Sector
- Education Week: Male Teachers Share Advice for Getting More Men Into the Profession
- City University of New York: NYC Men Teach: Educate Engage Empower
