MenTeach E-News
December 2013
1) Teacher winner of a NZI Sustainable Business Network Award
2) Black male headteachers in England’s state schools number just 30
3) Black Male Teacher Stands For Aspiration, Support
4) Letter: From engineering to early education
5) Memoir of a male educator
6) ‘Mannies’ On The Rise In New Trends for Child Care
7) Where Are All the Caring Men?
8) Out Of 1,883 Teachers, 56 Black Males
9) Research: Why female teachers predominate in France
10) Early childhood group for male educators in Wisconsin
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1) Teacher winner of a NZI Sustainable Business Network Award
Auckland kindergarten teacher Adam Buckingham has won one of New Zealand’s top environmental awards.
The NZI Sustainable Business Network Awards, which have been running for 10 years, are the pre-eminent and longest-standing sustainability awards in New Zealand.
Adam Buckingham’s “Turning Trash into Treasure for Young Children” won in the Community Impact Category.
Each of the 230 entries has been assessed by a panel of judges for significant environmental benefit, measurable and tangible results, innovation, awareness-raising and going the extra mile. Read the article: /node/2319
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2) Black male headteachers in England’s state schools number just 30
There are just 30 black male headteachers in England’s 21,600 state schools, official figures obtained by the Guardian show, triggering accusations that the country’s education system is “institutionally racist”.
The Department for Education (DfE) revealed that there are 20 black Caribbean or black African male heads in state nurseries and primaries and 10 in secondary schools. There are none in special schools.
The figures from November last year – which do not include academies and which are the latest available – show there are 127 black female headteachers, meaning that one in every 125 heads is a black man or woman.
Headteachers are overwhelmingly white – some 94.7% are white British. Just 0.7% are black Caribbean or black African, despite these ethnic groups making up 2% of England’s population. Read the article: /node/2321
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3) Black Male Teacher Stands For Aspiration, Support
I am one of the African American males who, according to The National Academy of Education, make up less than 2 percent of the nation’s public school teachers.
It’s a statistic that came out just a few months after CNN reported that black male students have dramatically fewer black male teachers as role models compared with their white peers. It’s not a new phenomenon. In 2011, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan launched a recruitment campaign, “Black Men to the Blackboard,” which called for more African American males to pursue education careers.
Efforts like these to fight disparities are well-intentioned but, from my experience, don’t address the heart of the problem, which has little to do with awareness. Low expectations and lack of both role models and support from adults are what keep African Americans from becoming teachers. Read the editorial: /node/2322
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4) Letter: From engineering to early education
I’m applying for teacher assistant positions in Albany, NY. I’m an engineering major. I love technology. I started a summer job in 2006 after graduation to save some cash for my expensive engineering major.
That job changed everything.
It was a last minute placement as my first job placement suddenly was not available. Two weeks into waiting for an opening I was offered a position at a summer camp. I immediatly said yes without hesitation thinking they’ll place me somewhere that fits my experiences.
I received my worksite assignment. When I reached the address I was given to my surprise it was my old elementary school. Wow, did the memories start flying back. I started thinking what kind of engineering can I do here, it’s a school, I must have the wrong address. I walk in and there’s an armada of bright neon colored shirts in rows of two walking thru the hallway.
Still in my head I’m thinking I do hazardous work, how can I do the job I applied for at this site? I’m introduce to my worksite director and she brought me upstairs to a classroom full of very small tiny children reading Dr.Suess. I’m still thinking okay I’m going to setup cabling in the room she shows me or something. We quietly walk in and as the story ends the teacher and children give a warm good morning to the supervisor. She explains that today they’ll meet their new classroom teacher. I wondered where she was cause all the other classes ive noticed had two women in each room or leading a class. Read the entire letter to find out what happens: /node/2323
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5) Memoir of a male educator
Ken Newton has heard it all during his 16 years as an elementary school teacher.
“I’ve had kids be afraid when they first hear I’m going to be their teacher because they think I’m a big, scary teacher,” he said with a smile in his classroom at Fair Oaks Ranch Community School. “And I’ve had parents look at me weird when their kids, my students, say ‘hi’ to me at the grocery store.”
The longtime teacher, who has spent the last 16 years in the Sulphur Springs School District, said he thinks many of those reactions stem from the simple fact that he is a rarity in his field.
After all, he notes, you don’t see too many men teaching in elementary school.
“Until a few years ago I was the only male teacher here,” he said of Fair Oaks Ranch school. “For the longest time I’ve always been the token male.”
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6) ‘Mannies’ On The Rise In New Trends for Child Care
Founder of ‘NYC Mannies’ says male babysitters do job just as well as a female nanny. Watch the video on Good Morning America: /node/2327
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7) Where Are All the Caring Men?
For 25 years I worked as an artist in schools. Whilst doing this I was constantly being swamped, observed, followed and interrogated (in a nice way) by the children. At first I thought this was because I wasn’t a teacher, but I later realised it was also because I am a man.
I am now employed as a consultant in a wide range of health and care settings, not just schools, and I am still a very rare animal. Read the blog post: /node/2328
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8) Out Of 1,883 Teachers, 56 Black Males
In his 14 years as a New Haven public-school student, Harold Cooper has never had a black male teacher. He’s not alone.
Harold, a 17-year-old Hillhouse High School senior, said he feels black male teachers can “relate more to the students.” He doesn’t know for sure, because in all of his schooling since pre-K, he has never had one.
His story is emblematic of a persistent national trend: The gap between the number of minority kids and the number of minority teachers is getting wider. And black male teachers are especially hard to find.
New Haven, like many cities, has a jarring mismatch between the student population and the teaching workforce: 85 percent of students are racial minorities, and 85 percent of teachers are white. Read the article: /node/2329
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9) Research: Why female teachers predominate in France
In France, male teachers are disappearing, especially in kindergartens and primary schools, where they now make up less than 18%. The percentage of male teachers is slightly higher in junior and high schools. This has been a trend for at least 60 years and at national level, only 30.8% of staff in public education are male. Why do men allow women to dominate teaching? asks Dares, which publishes the data? Read the article and download the research report: /node/2341
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10) Early childhood group for male educators in Wisconsin
Early childhood education has been a female-dominated profession for generations.
According to 2011-12 National Education Association statistics, just 16.2 percent of elementary school teachers in the U.S. are men; in Wisconsin it’s 21.5 percent.
In light of these facts, Jill Klefstad, associate professor and program director of the early childhood education program at University of Wisconsin-Stout, has organized a support group for male childhood education teachers.
“I see the need of organizing and supporting the ECE men,” she said.
A group of 15 men, which included seven students and six alumni, met for the first time recently at UW-Stout to discuss their career choice and any issues they may be experiencing. Some of the men work in the Menomonie area, and six are former students of Klefstad. Read the article: /node/2317
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