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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 08 Hansard (Thursday, 5 August 2004) . . Page.. 3564 ..

Pay, status and workload are consistently cited as why teachers of both genders are moving away from the industry. These issues were raised recently in the pay dispute for ACT teachers.

The work of teachers is critical to our society. We simply cannot afford to undervalue the educational experience of our kids. It is well recognised that work in schools has become increasingly challenging due to the complexity and seriousness of the social issues students bring with them. We have to value this work more. We have to give young people reasons to become teachers and give good teachers reasons to stay. Salaries are a key indicator of our commitment, but the issue is broader than that. Good teachers need to be supported in every way possible, including encouraging their creativity and allowing others to learn from them.

In the case of male teachers, which the bill refers to as an example, the causes of imbalance relate to disincentives in the profession: the relative status of teachers in the community, comparatively low salaries and career opportunities and, as I said, child protection issues—or the perception of the risk of unmeritorious allegations and complaints. This explains why many men choose not to become teachers or, if they do, why some tend to leave mid-career if they are not promoted to non-teaching higher positions such as principal or deputy principal—positions which are held disproportionately by males.

Eva Cox, from the Women’s Electoral Lobby, highlights this issue. The problem with all feminised occupations, such as teaching and nursing, is that men rise quickly through the ranks and away from the coalface, leaving women in poorly paid work and girls with a lack of female leadership role models. They suggest, perhaps satirically, but also making a point, that sending the excessive proportion of men in executive jobs back into the classrooms is a way to address the lack of men in junior teaching positions.

The suggested link between boys’ underachievement at school and the presence of male teachers does not appear to be supported by research and ignores the latest surpassing by males of females in the workplace generally. Causes of the female domination of work such as nursing and childcare, which are perceived as nurturing but undervalued “women’s work”, are different to causes of the male domination of the professions of scientists, engineers, parliamentarians, judges, surgeons, professors and the military, where there are stereotypes and cultures that create barriers to equal opportunity for women that are not based on merit.

Janet Smith, a PhD candidate at the University of Canberra, has investigated the experience of male primary school teachers. She found that, in light of the dominance of the “we need more male teachers” discourse, there is an urgent need to be explicit about why more male primary teachers are needed, what problems they are supposed to overcome and how their presence will help. This investigation will need to consist of research into the needs of both boys and girls in primary schools and whether a teacher’s gender has any effect on their learning outcomes or school experience.

The Australian Education Union make some interesting points about the needs of students. They state that boys do not need special programs to address literacy. Education systems as a whole simply require more adequate resources, quality teachers and smaller class sizes. They go on to state that there are multiple learning styles—but

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