Here at ‘Pewari Lite’, I’d like to quickly report that I reached 20,000 words in my NaNoWriMo novel about five minutes ago. Everything else is getting rather neglected at the moment, for which I apologise. I think my children still know my name, but it’s hard to be sure. Thank god for Cbeebies, either way.
Quick link of the day for you is an excellent article by Boris Johnson in the Telegraph entitled Come off it, folks: how many paedophiles can there be? which is a very refreshing and intelligent comment on the increasing level of paranoia in our society. I particularly identified with the following paragraph:
Even as I write, I can imagine the lip-pursing of some of my lovely high-minded readers. How would you like it, they will say, if some weird chap was plonked next to your kids? And they are right that I would worry about some strange adult sitting next to my children, chiefly because I wouldn’t want the poor fellow to come to any harm.
There are currently two male teachers at Akra Jr’s primary school, which is great. However, due to a rule that no teacher will teach subsequent siblings if it can be possibly be avoided (an excellent idea in terms of having preconceived notions of a child’s abilities based on the experience of their older brother or sister), it is likely that both boys will only have one male teacher in their entire primary school career.
In our current atmosphere of paranoia, combined with low wages and rock-bottom levels of respect for the teaching profession, it doesn’t surprise me that fewer men want a career in teaching, particularly at primary level. It does make me wonder though, what message are we giving to our sons about the role of men in society, if we are constantly suspicious of any male contact with children?
13 responses so far ↓
1 Alley Katt // 12th Nov 2006 at 4:45 pm
In my daughter’s school there are three male teachers. I don’t have a problem with them, but so many people say I don’t a male teacher with my kids! Male nursery assistants are few and far between as well. One of my neighbours is a nursery teacher / supervisor whatever you want to call it. We ask him to babysit sometimes.
2 Miss L // 12th Nov 2006 at 6:38 pm
That school makes life difficult for itself doesn’t it? In our smallest Shropshire schools, the same teacher has to teach all the juniors in one class – at the same time!! (But perhaps this is one of the latest initiatives in education which I have missed…. ooh good!)
3 Bowch // 12th Nov 2006 at 6:41 pm
Friend of mine qualified as a primary school teacher about 3 years ago. After spending 2 years trying to get a job in schools within the county he eventually gave up and is now working doing Stock and Accounts for a local car spares company.
4 Miss L // 12th Nov 2006 at 6:46 pm
I have just read the Boris Johnson article and it is quite interesting, he is bemoaning hte fact that there are few male junior teachers and thinks that the poor pay might have something to do with it. Does that mean it is OK to pay women teachers that same poor rate?!! (I’ll get off my high horse here… dismount!)
5 Paula // 12th Nov 2006 at 9:06 pm
There is only one male teacher at my sons school if you don’t include the headmaster. Which is a great shame really.
However one of the new nursery teachers is male but he will only be there as long as the Uni placement lasts. When my hubby helped out at nursery last year he was swamped with little boys desperate to play “boy” games. He had them running races and all sorts of things they don’t normally do.
He still gets approached by little ones in the playground but had said it sometimes makes him feel uncomfortable when he sees the other parents staring at him. There are currently no male parents on the PSA.
Good old Boris.
6 mad muthas // 12th Nov 2006 at 10:15 pm
it’d be great, wouldn’t it, if there were more male teachers a primary. the whole system has become so feminised (in the broadest sense), it’s not surprising that boys are underacheiving and become alienated from education so early on.
7 Kaptain Kobold // 12th Nov 2006 at 11:01 pm
I actually applied to do teacher training at primary level a couple of years ago and part of my motivation was because I felt there weren’t enough of us in the profession. Luckily for the profession I didn’t get a place on the course I wanted to do, and I went back into IT :-)
The whole staff at my chidrens’ infant school was (and is) female – even the caretaker. Things are slightly better at their primary school, with a few male teachers (and, when Cei started, a male head). Indeed Maya has had a male class teacher in two out of her three years so far. As for why there are so few men teaching at that level, I don’t know. It’s not a recent thing for sure – in my seven years of infant/primary education 30-35 years ago I only had one male teacher. At secondary level, however, I had only one female teacher (O-level French).
8 Gert // 14th Nov 2006 at 7:43 pm
What an utterly ridiculous rule. I mean logically and not just philosophically.
If they had been correct to assume that the children were not Boris’s, then they were either those of another passenger, who had a duty of care, or BA were in loco parentis, and one would hope they would be aware of which kids they were responsible for. One would imagine “Hi, my name’s …and I’m going to looking after you today” or a big sign saying “Unaccompanied Minor”.
Also logical tosh because far more children are abused by parents, step-parents, uncles/aunts etc than by strangers. Not that I’m implying that about Boris. I imagine the embarrassment of being Boris’s offspring is sufficiently traumatic…;-)
9 Gert // 14th Nov 2006 at 7:48 pm
A couple we know had a baby. They’re not quite friends but more than acquaintances. Very nice people.
I happened to catch the bus with her one day; she’d just gone back to work, I made appropriate noises about the wrench of leaving child with childminder etc, and then she said with studied nonchalance: F. is his childminder. F is a very good friend of their’s, and a vague friend, good acquaintance of ours, very nice person. He’s gay, very camp. He had been her Chief Bridesmaid.
My instinctive reaction was “Oh that’s brilliant, it must be great to know that he’s with someone you know and trust and shares your values.” She said something like “That’s the idea,” but her face said a lot more. I believe other people had said “Oh my god, you’re leaving your son with that pufter” or whatever.
10 Paula // 15th Nov 2006 at 9:36 am
It has been a few years since I worked as a passenger agent but I can confirm that children travelling alone should be accompanied by an airline/handling agent staff member at all time. And the same one until they get on the flight.
The child has to have their documents in a plastic wallet which goes round their neck so they are easily identified incase they wander off, which they often do! Unless things have changed dramatically in that area, and I would imagine they have stepped up the security if anything, then as someone who once spent 18 hours accompanying the most obnoxious girl thanks to flight delays that is what is meant to happen.
11 Pewari // 17th Nov 2006 at 8:12 am
Interestingly, Akra Jr’s school has just got a male teacher in to cover for someone’s maternity leave… hope they keep him when she returns.
I think part of the problem must at least be part of the UK’s funny hang up about children anyway. As a nation, we don’t seem to *like* children an awful lot. It’s really quite noticeable if we go abroad or even go into a shop in this country run by a non-English person how differently the children are treated.
On the way to nursery the other day, we bumped into an African (not sure which country in Africa, I couldn’t work it out from his accent) – he pretended to be a scary monster and made Li’l Bhaji laugh, it was fab! But how many English men would dare do that to a strange child walking down the street?
12 david // 30th Jun 2009 at 11:06 pm
my name is david and i am 15. i am working in a nursery as my work experiance and really enjoy it. i interact with the kids really well and am now thinking of doing child care as a job when i am old enough. the only problem is my family think i want to go into the R.A.F what do u think i should do …
thank you
david
13 Paula // 1st Jul 2009 at 11:57 am
You should do what you want to do, David. And if that is working in a nursery then why not. There are now three male teachers at my sons’ school and one male nursery teacher.
You need to tell your family what it is you want to do as a career and they need to support you. Good luck.
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