Men are being scared away from joining the teaching profession by a wave of “paedophile hysteria”, a leading Tory has warned.
Boris Johnson said school staffrooms are increasingly dominated by female teachers because men are afraid of attracting false child abuse allegations.
He spoke out after figures revealed women now outnumber men by 13 to one in primary schools – which have been worst-hit by the male recruitment slump.
Mr Johnson, Conservative higher education spokesman, declared that young boys needed male role models to aid their intellectual development but “potentially brilliant” teachers were deterred from entering the profession because they feared being branded paedophiles.
Even bumping into a child could cause them to run into difficulties, he warned.