The purpose of this study is to stress what experiences men working in the earlier school years share about being a minority group and what thoughts they have about why other men tend to avoid this profession. In this survey I have interviewed four male teachers in the earlier school years. In previous research it is claimed that men choose not to get a teacher training for the earlier school years partly because this profession is known to be dominated by women where it is difficult for men to feel at home. It is also claimed that teachers in training choose the later school years in order to focus more on teaching than looking after the children. None of the interviewed men sees it as a problem being a minority group, neither during training nor in teaching. What the men in this survey state as the main reasons for why other men do not choose to become teachers are the low levels of status and salary. They also believe that the schools need more men but most of all qualified teachers who have chosen this profession because they take an interest in it.

With this thesis I wanted to find out how a teacher-team in Stockholm reason about and whether they have specific expectations of male teachers in the early school years. Interviews with five teachers from pre-school to grade 3 and in after-school have shown that specific expectations of male teachers is something obvious. Are male teachers expected to enter into the role of male role models to contribute with masculinity and a male perspective? However, the informants are not able to define how a male role model is or should act. Men and women are often defined as two separate, and often as opposite, groups. According to Lpo´94 the school has to counteract traditional gender patterns, making specific expectations of male teachers problematic, when these rather helps to underpin these patterns.  The conclusion is, based on the perception of gender as a socially constructed phenomenon, that schools and teachers contribute to gender-building by setting, and constantly repeating and practicing the standards for what is considered male and female. As long as this continues, the school will remain an arena where these gender patterns are reinforced rather then counteracted.

Uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka och analysera hur manliga svensklärare gör och ogör kön i sin yrkesroll genom att antingen göra motstånd mot, eller anpassa sig efter rådande könsnormer och förväntningar. Syftet är också att bidra med ökad kunskap om hur manliga svensklärare förhåller sig till att vara i minoritet och om varför de valt svenskläraryrket. Uppsatsen bygger på sex intervjuer med nyblivna svensklärare och för att kunna förstå och analysera materialet har jag använt mig av tidigare forskning om män i kvinnodominerade yrken, genusteori, maskulinitetsteori och organisationsteori. I undersökningen framkommer det att männen inte uppfattar sitt yrkesval som könsöverskridande. Lärarna ogör kön genom att tona ned könsskillnaderna och ta avstånd från den hegemoniska maskuliniteten. I motsats till vad tidigare forskning om män i kvinnoyrken visat så upplever inte de manliga svensklärarna att deras maskulinitet har hotats av deras minoritetsposition i yrket eller att de i egenskap av sitt kön förväntas bidra med något som inte kvinnor kan ge.