Education is becoming 'feminised' putting men off becoming teachers

19 October 2020, 08:21

'Men are being put off the teaching profession'

By EJ Ward

Men are being put off becoming teachers as the profession is becoming "feminised" and there is too much emphasis on "political correctness."

Former headteacher Chris McGovern told LBC that men are being put off joining the teaching profession as the job has become "feminised."

The Chairman of the Campaign for Real Education was speaking to LBC's Nick Ferrari after a report suggested thousands of male teachers are leaving secondary school classrooms, creating concerns that a lack of role models is contributing to the underperformance of boys.

Mr McGovern said in primary schools there was "one clear issue" which men face and it was "why would men wish to work with young children."

The education expert said many male teachers are "left feeling rather vulnerable" when working with young children, especially with the current levels of concern over paedophilia.

"There is that fear out there," Mr McGovern said, adding in secondary school male teachers could feel that the "agenda is being set more by women and women's issues than men's issues."

The proportion of male teachers in secondary schools in England has fallen steeply over the last decade - and now just over a third of the workforce are men, a report has found.

The decline of male teachers has been fuelled by a significant fall in the proportion of white male teachers in schools, according to an analysis by the Education Policy Institute (EPI) think tank.

Iain Dale examines the number of white working class boys attending university

The former headteacher told LBC there was a perception many men were "left feeling schools these days are places for women" adding it was a "bad reflection on men."

"I feel perhaps schools these days are less concerned about teaching subjects rather than teaching political correctness," the former headteacher told LBC.

Issuing a stark warning that young boys are not doing as well in education as they could be the former headteacher said that "boys desperately need male role models."

"White working-class boys are the ethnic group that's most failing in our country, it's a crisis," Mr McGovern warned.

"Ethnic minorities are generally doing extremely well, white working-class boys are doing extremely badly and they are fodder for political extremists in the future."

Watch the whole insightful exchange in the video at the top of the page.