“School is the advertising agency which makes you believe that you need the society as it is.” ― Ivan Illich

The absence of male teachers in our schools is not a new issue. But according to the latest Eurostat data, only 15% of primary school teachers in Europe are now men. And in the future, this gender imbalance is set to intensify with fewer men entering the profession. So why do we have such a strong gender imbalance and, more importantly, does it matter?

The first observation to make from the Eurostat data is that gender imbalance changes at different stages of education. Pre-school education staff are almost entirely female, as are the vast majority of primary education teachers. In lower and upper secondary education women still outnumber men – by 3 and almost 2 to 1 respectively - but in higher education, men become the majority with 60% of academic staff. And at the highest levels of university staff only 1 in 4 professors are women. What could be the reason for this pattern?

Sometimes the obvious explanation is the correct one. This picture mirrors a society which values higher levels of education more than earlier stages, and the status and financial remuneration of university professors is vastly superior to that of primary school teachers. Low salaries and lack of prestige make teaching an unattractive profession – and women are often over-represented in unattractive professions, and commonly underpaid compared to men in the same jobs.

OECD evidence shows that female teachers earn 10% below the average wage of other tertiary-educated women, while men teaching in primary education earn nearly 30 % less than their peers. So teaching salaries are uncompetitive - and the differences compared to other professions are greater for men.

There is also a widespread belief that teaching provides little opportunity for professional development. While this picture may be more nuanced if we look at teaching career structures in Europe, it is a professional image that is difficult to shake off.

A second reason that may explain the absence of men particularly in early stage teaching is linked to stereotypical beliefs about gender. Gender stereotypes affect the career choices for men and women, and as long as our culture continues to portray men as being unsuited for caring professions such as teaching, nursing and social work, this is likely to continue.

The stereotype that caring professions are best suited to women is problematic for many reasons, but foremost among them is the presumption that caring is gender-based. This belief persists despite the fact that some caring professions – such as doctors – are dominated by men.

The stereotyped image of caring professions also fails to recognise the complex intellectual challenges they involve. Teaching, for example, requires a complex set of competencies, including subject knowledge, communication skills to teach and inspire learning, and the ability to manage different personalities and behaviours. None of this is related to gender.

But whatever the reasons men are discouraged from teaching, does their absence in school education matter?

A pragmatic way to look at this question is to see if there is any visible impact on student achievement. Some commentators have linked the lack of male teachers to underachievement of boys compared to girls (for example the higher rate of boys leaving school early or the increased enrolment rates of girls in higher education). Many claim that the lack of male role models in schools affects under-performance of boys.

The impact on students' achievement is however debatable, and there is considerable empirical evidence that gender interactions do not seem to be related to student performance. And when asked, students seem to be more interested in the competence, attitudes and performance of teachers rather than their gender.

A second way to look at the issue is to consider the hidden curriculum. In other words, what cultural values are being absorbed through school and society? Here, we may well conclude that the absence of male teachers at school reinforces and perpetuates problematic stereotypes about women and men. Thus students learn through direct experience that the labour market segregates humans by gender, considers women as more suitable carers than men, and doesn't value professions such as teaching.

So the values transmitted through education are important, the absence of male teachers is indeed a concern – along with the under-representation of ethnic, linguistic and cultural groups in some of our societies. How do we convey the message that students can develop the skills and knowledge to reform and overcome inequality while they are learning in an environment that is an embodiment of such inequity? Ultimately, ensuring that men find the teaching career attractive and rewarding is an essential part of the fight against gender discrimination, and central to the idea of schools promoting democratic values.

Authors: Peter Birch and David Crosier