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School District of Philadelphia officials are striving to recruit minority teachers to help fill vacancies.

Philadelphia School Superintendent William Hite and Philadelphia Federation of Teachers President Jerry Jordan addressed the importance of increasing diversity in the district’s workforce during a Philadelphia Tribune editorial board meeting this week.

When Walter Lee was a young child, his poor, rural town of Eutawville near the banks of Lake Marion in Orangeburg County, built a new school. Somehow his father ended up with an old chalkboard and some school desks, which he brought home, and Lee would play teacher.

The teachers in K-12 classrooms in Oklahoma and other states historically were mostly women. Their bosses — the principals and superintendents — were mostly men.

In two of those jobs, not much has changed.

Nearly eight in 10 certified public-school teachers in Oklahoma are female, a ratio unchanged in the past decade, according to state Department of Education data acquired by Oklahoma Watch.

When people think about preschool or elementary teachers, usually women come to mind. Characters such as Ms. Honey from “Matilda” or Ms. Crabtree from “Little Rascals” are the widely accepted norm regarding childhood educators.

Times are definitely changing with a record number of men studying childcare at TAFE SWSi in Campbelltown this year.

A total of 18 men are studying early childhood courses with the aim of securing a position in what is traditionally a female-dominated industry.

The number makes up a whopping 80 per cent increase in male students from last year to this year at the Campbelltown TAFE.

The statistics have almost become cliché: Black elementary and high school students score lower on standardized tests, on average, than their white or Asian counterparts. For years, educators have searched for solutions. For Kwame Griffith, a senior vice president at Teach For America, the way to help narrow this achievement gap is by recruiting more black and Hispanic male teachers.

On March 4 at the MassAEYC conference- MenTeach-New England and MassAEYC held our annual reception and award evening. Men Teach gave out two awards:

Tim Gates knew exactly what he wanted to be at a very young age.

"There are a lot of teachers in my family," Gates said. "I've always wanted to be a teacher."

Gates is teaching 5th grade at Martin Luther King, Junior Elementary School in Oklahoma City and loving every minute of it.

"It gives me the opportunity to give a gift that you can't necessarily see."

Talented male primary school teachers are being devalued because they get pigeon-holed into running sports classes or looking after naughty kids, a new book has claimed.

The authors of Men Teaching Children 3-11 investigated gender stereotyping in deprived schools across the north of England and London.

Israel's teacher burnout problem may not be as severe as previously thought, a study released Sunday suggests.

65% of teachers are satisfied with their career choice, the TACK poll for Herzog Academic College revealed, compared to 23% who are 'satisfied enough' but not planning to continue the career path permanently and just 11% who are 'dissatisfied.'

New York City, which has the nation’s largest public school system, wants to hire 1,000 black, Latino and Asian male teachers by 2017 to create a teaching corps that more closely matches the student body.

Former English footballer and current sports broadcaster Gary Lineker once came to my school to give an inspirational speech.

When he came in he asked “Who knows me from playing football?” The older men put their hands up. Then he asked “Who knows me from Match of the Day?” Now half the room put their hands up. Finally, he asks “Who knows me from Walkers Crisps adverts?” The whole room put their hands up.

Friday was an early-release day at Wolfson High. By 2 p.m., the students were gone, but the auditorium was filled with male teachers.

The reason? They’re part of a newly-formed male teachers’ network in Duval County.

Westside High School Principal Gregory Bostic led Friday’s workshop.

The Queensland College of Teachers has commissioned a review into the factors which influence people when choosing teaching as a first career.

It comes as recent figures show the number of male teachers in Queensland state primary schools falling to just 16% of the workforce.

According to Kevin Bates, President of the Queensland Teachers Union, perceptions of teaching being a 'feminised profession' or elements of unjustified suspicion being levelled at male teachers, contributes to this low figure.

Educators and policy wonks of many stripes pretty much agree that U.S. classrooms need more minority teachers.

But how to make that happen?