The employment gap between men and women at Primary and Secondary level continues to widen. In this blog, I ask why this is happening, how we can address it and why I believe it’s crucial we do so in the long term. First, some food for thought. Currently, 84.8 per cent of full time primary school teachers are female and 62.4 per cent of secondary school teachers. 91.5 per cent of teaching assistants and 82.0 per cent of support staff are female. Overall, 80.1 per cent of all school staff are female. Not only that, this is part of a downward trend in male numbers, with the female teacher proportion going up from 72.9% in 2010 to 73.8% in 2015. But it doesn’t have to be like this, does it? Bac
But first, a lovely tale.... I arrived at school smiling. My students arrive, after skipping through forests, admiring the daffodils, whilst occasionally stopping to read some Enid Blyton. I love Enid Blyton. In class, they carefully open their pristine exercise books and beautifully illustrated textbooks and are all eager to learn. I clear the apples from my desk. I just teach them, because teaching is great. Nothing bad happens. Teaching is great. Its hard work, but its great. I leave at, well, a normal time. I’m off to the beach. Caption: Me on a beach The end. This story is dedicated to Vicky Kconcnis who recently posted this comment on my last TES article: “Dear TES - PLEASE stop postin
