'Ellis syndrome' puts men off teaching

By ALAN PERROTT education reporter

Fear of falling victim to the "Peter Ellis syndrome" is stopping men from becoming primary school teachers, according to a study.

Researcher Ian Livingstone sayss men are reluctant teachers because they fear being seen as potential child abusers, and the industry is also considered low paid and of low social status.

His report, Men in Primary Teaching in New Zealand, was commissioned by the primary teachers' union, the Educational Institute, and presented yesterday at its annual conference in Wellington.

It found that fewer than one in five primary school teachers are men and the number of men entering training is not keeping pace with the number leaving their jobs.

Women primary teacher numbers rose by 13 per cent between 1992 and 2001, but those for men fell by 9 per cent, the report says.

By contrast, 43 per cent of secondary school teachers are men.

The NZEI hopes the study will help encourage measures to reverse male flight from classrooms and stop the trend of a worrying number of pupils not encountering a male teacher until secondary school.

"It has to be a concern that some children's only male role models are policemen," said NZEI president Bruce Adin.

But simply increasing the number of men accepted for training was not the answer if that meant dropping standards, he said.

"That would just set us up for more problems."

Mr Livingstone said the school environment should reflect the greater community.

"If the adults in primary education are more representative of their communities at large, then the message ought to go to children - both boys and girls - that learning and academic achievement isn't just a women's thing. It's something for everyone."

Paul Baker, chairman of the Association of Boys' Schools, has backed the idea of men-only teaching scholarships.

"Rightly or wrongly, some boys respond differently to male and female teachers," he said.

"For a lot of boys, the messages they need to hear about succeeding come through clearly only from other men."

But Education Minister Trevor Mallard yesterday said giving men preference through scholarships did not appeal.

"My key priority is to have qualified teachers. I am yet to find a parent who would prefer their child to be taught by an inferior male teacher rather than a better woman teacher."

Men-only scholarships are illegal under Human Rights Law, says a Ministry of Education spokeswoman.

"We can only discriminate positively when it can be proved that a group is disadvantaged - for example Maori," she said. "A case could be presented for Maori scholarships because, as a group, Maori are under-represented in terms of educational achievement."

The male-teacher statistics reflect an international trend toward increasing female dominance at primary level, but are exacerbated in this country by the child-abuse case against Christchurch Civic Creche worker Peter Ellis.

Child health researcher Dr Sarah Farquhar says the paranoia over physical contact with children is not helped by the NZEI "no contact" policy instituted after the Ellis case.

The policy was negative and did nothing to dispel distrust of male teachers.

She said the NZEI should be playing a leading role in rehabilitating the image of men teachers and encourage families to get to know their children's teachers.

Little research had been done on the issue, but the lack of men in schools might contribute to the academic achievement gap between boys and girls and over-representation of boys in statistics for truancy, suspensions and stand-downs.

But Dr Farquhar fears little will be done to reverse the trend "because positive recruitment policies will be seen as benefiting men over women".

Mr Adin said good male teachers were in demand.

"Now any men becoming teachers who are hardworking and have ability can really fly," he said.

"They are a sought-after commodity because there's not enough of them.

"The world's their oyster really."

The 'Peter Ellis syndrome'

It doesn't happen much, but a child did come up behind me and sneaked her hand in my pocket. I had confiscated something and just put it in there. I nearly died of shock, I really did. I even felt guilty!

- experienced male teacher

About two-thirds of our kids come from solo-parent homes, and most of those solo parents are mothers, so for these kids, girls and boys, where do they get a positive, emotional, supportive and warm relationship with an adult male? It does not happen.

- male principal

I have come to not even like a child coming at me now. I am sort of on alert. - male trainee

additional reporting: NZPA