http://masseynews.massey.ac.nz/2007/Press_Releases/11-14-07b.html
Mid-career males turn to teaching in greater numbers
The prospect of having more fun on the job and better work-life balance
- despite the drop in pay - has been enough to motivate several men with
well-paid professional careers to throw caution to the wind and go
teaching.
A quarter of this year's post-graduate primary teaching diploma
graduates at the University's Auckland campus College of Education
post-graduate primary teaching diploma are men - the highest number of
men in one intake to date. This compares with the estimated 10 per cent
of male teachers currently found in primary school classrooms
nationwide, with some schools having no male teachers at all.
Three of the nine men from this year's class of 36 who are about to join
the teaching workforce have bucked the trend and ditched well-paid
careers in engineering, law and telecommunications in exchange for the
demands of the classroom.
John Sadler, aged 52, a drummer and former telecommunications technician
who completed a music degree at Otago University before enrolling at
Massey, believes teaching is one of the few "honourable" professions
because to teach means you are not driven by money.
With a son aged 30 and daughter aged 29 (a teacher), Mr Sadler feels
older teachers - male or female - have the life experience to better
equip them for the demands of school. Teachers, above all, need plenty
of patience - an attribute that tends to be well-honed with years, he
says.
Craig Watson, a 35-year-old Briton who worked as an engineer for 15
years, agrees that experience outside teaching is an advantage when
entering a classroom. "There a lot of pressures on kids these days,"
says Mr Watson, a father of two preschoolers. "I think when you go in
with a bit more life experience you have a lot more empathy towards the
students. You know things aren't straightforward in life and you know
some of the problems they have aren't their fault."
Stephen Brady, a 36-year-old former chef who completed a law degree in
England before moving to New Zealand with his wife and two children,
says he always swore he would never become a teacher. He jokes that his
wife and his parents are teachers, and he objected to their "teacherly
tones" outside the classroom. But the experience of mentoring students
at a high school in England made him rethink his opposition.
The men say a drop in pay will be compensated for by having more time
with their families after school and during school holidays. None of
them are complacent that the man drought in primary schools will mean
they have an automatic advantage when it comes to job seeking.
"It doesn't matter what sex you are," says Mr Sadler. "If you're a good
teacher, you're a good teacher."
And they are all aware of, but not deterred by, social anxiety regarding
child abuse. Fear of sexual abuse accusations is widely thought to be
one of the reasons men are reluctant to become teachers.
The rule of thumb is to ensure they are never alone with a child.
Job satisfaction, they agree, will come from seeing students progress
and evolve over the course of a year, with getting to learn new things
themselves as they are teaching, and contributing to children's overall
learning.
Mr Watson: "We've learned from the course that teaching is not just
about English and maths, it's about teaching kids' classroom management,
respect and life skills.
"Coming from my career, although it had an interesting side to it, I
could almost predict what my day was going to be like. Teaching isn't
like that - that's the beauty of it. It keeps you on your toes. There
might be some frustrating times, but you have to be flexible and ride
with it. Training to be a teacher has been a breath of fresh air for
me."
Michael Irwin, senior lecturer at the Auckland College of Education and
expert in boys and education, says many of the men who opt to go
teaching later in life have " had teaching in the back of their minds
for long time."
It was vital to have a balance of good male and female teachers in
schools, he says. And it is crucially important for girls and boys to
have male teachers as positive role models and "to see men enjoying
reading, enjoying learning. Men tend to get out into the playground a
bit more - kids love that," he says.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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