1) Men working with young children during disasters
2) Primary level teaching sees rise in male applicants
3) The Need for More Male Teachers
4) We’re bucking trend on male teachers
5) Men & women organize and watch “Expect Male Involvement”
6) Men in early education Fall Meeting – MenTeach – New England
7) Lots of men in this New South Wales Program
8) African American male teacher shortage
9) University Sees More Men Applying to be Primary Teachers
10) Men’s Stories: A brilliant, dignified teacher
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1) Men working with young children during disasters
I am just back from a 2-week gig doing child care in a Red Cross shelter for people displaced by the June 1 tornado in Springfield, MA. Each disaster is like no other, and this was no exception. The tornado, a very unusual occurrence in this part of the country, went from west to east, bouncing around through Westfield and West Springfield before replenishing its water supply in the Connecticut River and causing a wide path of complete or partial wreckage for miles through and beyond the industrial city of Springfield. The tornado wrecked several high-rise low-income apartment buildings, as well as many small homes, before heading off to focus on the more expensive houses in the eastern suburbs. The damage seemed very arbitrary, with one house being rubble and its next door neighbor apparently untouched. The Massachusetts National Guard is in town to limit looting.
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2) Primary level teaching sees rise in male applicants
More men are applying to be primary school teachers but male role models in early education remain stubbornly low, according to new figures. At Dundee University, applications from men for courses are up by almost a quarter compared to 2008-09 while they are up by 12.3 per cent at the University of Aberdeen. While the total number of registered male teachers in primary schools has risen by almost 600 in the past six years, they still account for just 7.6 per cent. In secondary schools, the number of male teachers has dropped by 1,000, but make up 37.3 per cent of the total teaching population. The number of men studying for a BEd for primary education at Glasgow University has gone up 15.4 per cent since 2008-09, but still account for just 10 per cent of the total student body. Eileen Prior, executive director of the Scottish Parent Teacher Council said she believed the dominance of women in teaching in primary schools was starting to shift. “This is an encouraging trend and can only be good for youngsters,” she said.
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3) The Need for More Male Teachers
The recent statistics released by the General Teaching Council for England on the number of male teachers in schools, particularly primary schools, are concerning. While there has been a small (0.6%) increase in the number of primary schools that have at least one male teacher, over a quarter (27.2%) still do not. Overall, only 12% of primary school teachers are male.
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4) We’re bucking trend on male teachers
South Tyneside is bucking the trend when it comes to the number of male teachers in primary schools. New figures released by the General Teaching Council for England (GTCE) show more than a quarter of schools in the country (27.2 per cent) have no male teacher. But only eight of the borough’s 46 primary schools (17.4 per cent) have no men in their classrooms. Of the 586 teachers in the borough’s primaries, 512 are female and 74 are male.
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5) Men & women organize and watch “Expect Male Involvement”
We showed the Expect Male Involvement video at Housatonic during the Week of the Young Child sponsored by the ECE Program at the college and the Fairfield County (CT) AEYC. About 50 people showed up, which was a smaller number than events held during that week in the last couple of years, but decent. There were 18 men in attendance which I thought was a huge success – virtually all of them were childcare workers or ECE students. The open discussion after the showing of the video was lively but supportive..
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6) Men in early education Fall Meeting – MenTeach – New England
Men in early education
Fall Meeting:
Saturday, October 1, 2011
9:30AM- 3:30 PM
Bridgewater State University
Bridgewater, MA
More information to follow
MenTeach – New England
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7) Lots of men in this New South Wales Program
Male teachers are becoming rarer in New South Wales public schools, but these four teachers from Bowen Public School aren’t planning on going anywhere soon. The men share decades of public school teaching experience between them and are standing strong in a public sector that is seeing a decrease in male employees. A report from the Bureau of Statistics released this week shows there has been a four per cent fall in male teachers in public schools since 2000, particularly in primary schools. It’s a trend that the men at Bowen Public School are happily not coming across. “I haven’t noticed that trend exists,” assistant principal Rob McPherson said.
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8) Fathers would be more involved if there were more male staff
A survey with results from nearly 500 Minnesota fathers and 250 early childhood education professionals and practitioners reveals key findings:
- That families and children want fathers involved.
- The barriers to father involvement in Early Childhood Programs are known.
- There are successful stories and strategies to more effectively involve fathers.
Father involvement in early childhood programs has increased over the past decade. But barriers that prevent their involvement still exist including:
- The attitudes and personal beliefs toward father involvement of mothers, teachers, caretakers and child care/education program staff and others involved in the child’s life who may be considered gateways to father involvement.
- Family or cultural beliefs concerning male involvement.
- Societal expectations and views of male involvement in children’s lives related to their care and support.
- Father’s educational level and/or irregular work schedule.
- The father’s lack of knowledge about child development, parenting and /or how to become an involved father.
The biggest barrier to involving fathers in programming is a father’s work schedule, followed by fathers not living with mothers and children, lack of male staff to whom fathers can relate and disagreements between fathers and mothers.
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9) University Sees More Men Applying to be Primary Teachers
The number of men applying to Bath Spa University to be primary school teachers this year has risen dramatically. The 66% increase in applications mirrors a national trend: figures announced by the Training and Development Agency for Schools ( TDA ) show a 52% rise in the number of men applying to primary teacher education programmes in England. The rise is attributed largely to the economic recession, with redundancies and unemployment making teaching an increasingly attractive option.
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10) Men’s Stories: A brilliant, dignified teacher
A brilliant, dignified man has left us, but the model for success which he taught us as he lived and worked among us is not one to be forgotten anytime soon. Always a good student, Stewart received a teaching certificate upon the completion of high school and began his career as an educator. He taught elementary school and attended college during the summers. Then, World War II erupted, and he was drafted into the Army in 1941 to serve his country.
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