Over the past decade, the lament that 'we need more male primary school teachers' has
flourished in media and populist discourse, within education systems and in government
inquiries in both Australia and the rest of the Western world. Whilst this discourse commonly
assumes that more male primary teachers will benefit both boys in schools and society in
general, other important considerations are silenced and overlooked and attention is seldom
paid to the experience of male primary school teachers.
This study explores the experience of male primary school teachers and the prevailing societal
discourses about them. It focuses on their experience of crossing over into a career that is
commonly regarded by society as 'women's work', and charts the advantages and
disadvantages they face as a result of their maleness. The understandings that are found
within this study are informed by relevant literature and by data emanating from media
discourse analysis, statistical analysis and life history interviews.
As a result of examining the relevant literature and data, this study has found that the
experience of male primary teachers is likely to be complex, contradictory and problematic.
Whilst some of their experiences are similar to those of female primary teachers, this study
only focuses on the part of their experience that differs from female teachers and is the direct
result of their maleness. Their choice to cross-over into women's work such as primary
teaching appears to yield a unique and complex mixture of experiences that are poorly
understood by both themselves and others. In particular, it is apparent that they experience a
vexing combination of advantages and disadvantages as a result of being a male in women's
work. This study has identified eight categories of disadvantage and four categories of
advantage that the males experience. The various sources of literature and data have differing
constructions as to whether the males are advantaged and / or disadvantaged. Most
commonly, the sources privilege either the disadvantages or the advantages and silence the
other. More rarely, they acknowledge and accommodate both. On the whole, the
disadvantages are better articulated, understood and documented than the advantages, which
are often silenced and ignored.
In order to fully explore the experience of male primary teachers, this study has also sought to
identify the prevailing societal discourses and debates about them and to examine whether
they are affecting the experience of the males. Information about societal discourses was
found in the literature, media and life history interviews, with media discourse providing the
most significant and comprehensive data. After examining these prevailing discourses about
male primary teachers, this study has found that they have an enormous impact on the
experience of male primary school teachers. However, in contrast, the study has shown that
the experience of male primary school teachers is not contributing to, informing or shaping
either societal or media discourses. As a result, these discourses can be seen to be largely
inaccurate, unreflective and unproductive because they do not reflect the experience of male
primary teachers.
This examination into the experience of male primary teachers makes an important
contribution to knowledge because there are so few Australian studies of males who cross
over into women's work or on the sexual division of labour in contemporary Australian
society. Whilst the study produces many more questions than it supplies answers, it
nevertheless results in extremely important understandings about the experience of male
primary school teachers and crossing-over into non-traditional work. In particular, the study
reveals the problematic nature of their experience and the complex experiences, advantages
and disadvantages that they face as a result of their maleness. It also charts the unhelpful
ways that prevailing societal debates and discourses about them have been constructed. It
points to the need for new and more sophisticated societal debates and discourses about male
primary teachers that will accommodate the complexity of their experience. It is therefore
anticipated that these findings will make an important contribution to understandings about
the experience of male primary teachers and to the development of more informed societal
discourses about them. Most importantly, the study will provide a language and framework to
enable the issues that have been identified about the experience of male primary teachers to be
adequately addressed within education policy, teaching practice and teacher education
strategies.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/218725 |
| Date | January 2004 |
| Creators | Smith, Janet Stuckey, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Education & Community Studies |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright Janet Stuckey Smith |
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