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Andrew Hall says some of his footy mates find his choice of being a prep teacher "a bit funny".

Probably because these days only 20 per cent of primary teachers are men and even fewer want to spend each day battling a bunch of five-year- olds.

But Hall, 26, fits in well at Darley Primary in Bacchus Marsh, where the 660 students have 12 men on staff: eight classroom teachers out of 29, plus men who are music, IT and physical-education specialists, and a shared IT technician.

Nearly one in 10 pupils at the Sunderland secondary school where Amer Sheikh works are from black and minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds, and yet he is the only black teacher out of 100: "I'm constantly aware of my ethnicity. For the black students, I feel I need to be a role model and for the white students, I feel I need to do my bit in helping them cope in a diverse society."

Headteachers say the number of male teachers working in Cumbria's primary schools is growing despite new Government figures which reveal men account for fewer than 30 per cent of staff in more than 200 schools.

According to new figures released by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) male teachers account for fewer than 30 per cent of all staff at 231 of the county's 275 local authority schools.

Recruitment drives and the downturn have led to a flood of applicants from the private sector seeking greater job security and satisfaction

The number of men applying for teacher training has risen sharply because of the recession, says the body responsible for training teachers.

There was a 52% rise in the number of men wanting to be primary school teachers - more than 4,700 in 2009/10, up about 1,500 compared with 2008/09.

Redundancies in the City have prompted the change, says the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA).

Dublin City Childcare Committee & its neighbouring CCC's operating in Dublin are seeking to make contact with men working in Early childhood Care & Education in Dublin. The Men in Childcare Network which is based in Waterford seeks to encourage more men to consider childcare as a career.  The Network is about getting more men involved in childcare and supporting them.

The children in Year 5 at St Elizabeth's, in Litherland, are in a lucky minority. Their teacher, Thomas Cox, is male and their teaching assistant is a man, too.

With soaring numbers of family break-ups, for some of these children these are the only adult males they'll have regular contact with.

But, despite the demand for men in early years childcare, the proportion of men to women is tiny.

Tim Caldwell is something of a rarity in Nottingham - a male primary school teacher.

City council figures show he is one of only 161, compared to 1,052 women.

In 2004, there were 187 male primary school teachers and 1,048 female.

But Mr Caldwell believes more men should follow his example.

He said: "It is something I really enjoy. I originally went into teaching at secondary schools, but it wasn't for me - I found it more like crowd control at times.

The economic downturn is believed to be behind a jump in men training to be teachers - a welcome development for schools trying to even up the gender balance.

But while secondary schools are pleased to see more male teachers coming through, they say recruiting and retaining enough suitable staff remains a problem.

Massey University's College of Education has almost doubled the number of men in its secondary school Graduate Diploma of Teaching course this year, up from 35 to 65.

Contact with male role models is a vital part of growing up. Outside their own family, the best places for young children to meet such role models are nurseries and schools.

But while a new survey has found that 55 per cent of parents, and 66 per cent of single parents, want a male childcare worker for their nursery-aged child, the reality is that only 2 per cent of childcare workers are men.

When Matthew Ruddy saw his primary school's first male teacher walk through his classroom's door he knew he wanted to work with children.

More than 10 years later 19-year-old Matthew is training at the University of Teesside to work in childcare.

Hardly any men work as early years carers, and more are wanted. But can they cope with the glitter, paint and mashed potato?

February - Saturday 13th – Sunday 14th, 2010

A YTN TV reporter recently examined the phenomenon of the shrinking number of men teaching in Korean elementary schools, and quotes a few women who worry that women teachers can't control the kids, who furthermore are not learning about their correct gender roles.

[Anchor] These days it's not easy to find a male elementary school teacher. It has finally gotten to the point where some schools have no male teachers at all. Seong Mun-gyu reports.

People are often surprised when Le Minh Hien tells them what he does for a living.

Hien, 35, has been working at the city's District 3 Kindergarten for 10 years. He is one of only a handful of male kindergarten teachers in the country.

According to statistics from the municipal Department of Education and Training, of the 12,800 kindergarten teachers working during the 2008-09 academic year, only 29 are male.

"Whever I have a day off, I really miss the little kids from my class," said Hien.