World News

That rare thing in primary education – a male teacher – will be more in evidence this morning as new junior infants and their classmates troop into school. There has been a persistent drift of men back into primary school teaching after decades of domination of the profession by women.

The Ministry of Education has cited the reasons for the number of male teachers being below that of female teachers in the secondary schools of Azerbaijan.

Besides the salary, the small number of men involved in teaching is being influenced by other factors related to business activity and other issues, the ministry said on August 20.

Salaries of up to $99,000, 12 weeks holiday and the chance to shape the next generation: they're the selling points that will be put to WA students to boost the number of men taking up teaching.

In the wake of new lows in male teacher numbers, Education Minister Peter Collier met the heads of the Catholic and public primary school principal bodies this week to map out a plan to stem the exodus.

Not long after public school board trustee Mike Ramsay raised concerns that male teachers are vastly under-represented in elementary schools, emails began to flood his inbox.

“The response was overwhelming,” said the Waterloo Region District School Board trustee.

Although the issue has been on Ramsay’s radar for nearly two decades, even he wasn’t prepared for the onslaught of emails and calls from men who said they couldn’t get hired at local elementary schools.

“I was quite taken aback,” he said. “Everyone has a story.”

The number of male primary school teachers is growing but they’re still in the minority in Switzerland. A politician has called for a 30 percent male quota on teacher training courses to encourage more men to work in primary classrooms. Does it matter whether your children are taught by a man or a woman while they’re at primary school?

There might be a shortage of male teachers in Western Australia but this is not the case at Glen Huon Primary School in Eaton.

Principal Carolyn Nankervis believes her students are lucky to have seven male teachers who work hard to offer a balanced education.

In a woman-dominated profession, man-power is strengthening at Timaru early childhood centres and primary schools.

And although the numbers are still small, Timaru schools are happy with the number of male teachers on their staff.

Garden Grove Montessori Preschool has one male teacher and licensee Christine Kirkeby said historic perception was what was turning away male teachers.

It will not be rare to see men in early childhood teaching and childcare roles if a new initiative by NZ’s national early childhood network, ChildForum, sparks men’s interest.

The proportion of men to women working in early childhood education was higher 20 years ago than it is today.  Only 2% of early childhood educators are men, compared with a high of 2.3% in 1993 and a low of just 1% in recent years.

A Toronto District School Board memo to staff that included gender and race among qualifications that could win a candidate an interview for a teaching position has outraged some female teachers.

The memo, which was received by principals and teachers and obtained by The Globe and Mail, says that the qualities that could get a candidate an interview include being male or from a racial minority.

Scholars, heads of kindergartens and representatives from education departments concluded that the lack of male kindergarten teachers in China could be detrimental to the balanced development of children. The conclusion was made at an education seminar held in Hangzhou, capital city of eastern China's Zhejiang Province, on June 21, 2012.

Statistics obtained by The Herald show the proportion of men trained as primary teachers in Scotland has dropped from 14% in 2007/09 to just 13% in 2010/11.

In contrast, the numbers trained in England have risen from 18% two years ago to 20% this year.

The decline in Scotland comes amid continuing concerns that there are not enough men entering the primary teaching workforce.

It's been less than a year since Sidiq Abdulloev got a job in a school in the southern Tajik town of Qurgon-Teppa.

But the 24-year-old teacher is leaving for Russia, swapping his chosen profession for manual work on a construction site or potato farm. The reason? Abdulloev says wages are unrealistically low in Tajik schools.

Rising numbers of men are signing up to become primary school teachers, official figures show.

But the data, published by the Teaching Agency, also shows there has been a fall in the number of trainee maths teachers.

One in five of those on primary teacher training courses this year were male - about 4,100 men in total, according to the latest figures.

Two years ago, about 18% were men (3,470 in total), the data shows.

When we think of kindergarten teachers, the first image that pops into our heads is usually of tender, versatile women. But nowadays more male teachers are willing to work in kindergartens and doing a great job. Still, many schools say it's difficult to retain male kindergarten teachers because of low salaries and inadequate employee benefits. Zhang Wan takes a closer look.

As Germany expands daycare provision for the nation’s children, one thing that is missing from the picture, all too often, are male teachers. Kate Hairsine tracked down some of the country’s rare male child care professionals.