MenTeach E-News
May 2013
1) Letter: Children Appreciate Male Teachers in Malaysia
2) School defies male teacher shortage
3) Black Male Teachers: Becoming Extinct? Show Me the Numbers
4) Teacher Facing a False Allegation of Abuse
5) Falsely accused teacher struggles to cope after name cleared
6) Nurturing Men – 10 years ago
7) Men in early childhood – Evidence?
8) How to not be angry at women
9) Swiss Male teacher discusses gender debate
10) Early childhood education could do with more men: Experts
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1) Letter: Children Appreciate Male Teachers in Malaysia
Male teachers being accepted positively among children and parents of childcare centres in Malaysia.
Early childhood in Malaysia is growing rapidly in our beautiful country of Malaysia. Currently more and more male teachers are involved in this industry. As such higher learning institutions, universities and colleges offer early childhood Diploma and Degree courses.
Surprisingly the number of male students have increase tremendously since last year taking Early Childhood Courses. /node/2192
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2) School defies male teacher shortage
There might be a shortage of male teachers in Western Australia but this is not the case at Glen Huon Primary School in Eaton.
Principal Carolyn Nankervis believes her students are lucky to have seven male teachers who work hard to offer a balanced education.
“Many of our students have very few male role models in their lives and it is good for them to be able to chat to our male teachers,” Mrs Nankervis said.
“Male teachers bring a range of life experiences and some have interests and talents with outdoor activities that appeal to the students.
“My staff is awesome and they are very supportive of each other.”
Currently about 15 per cent of Western Australia’s primary school teachers are male and about 39 per cent of secondary school teachers are male. Read the article: /node/2177
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3) Black Male Teachers: Becoming Extinct? Show Me the Numbers
Many media sources have propagated the view that black male teachers are “becoming extinct.” Currently, black males represent less than 2 percent of the nation’s teacher workforce. One article suggests that black males are underrepresented in the teaching profession because they prefer to pursue more lucrative careers. The article also postulated that because black males have had negative educational experiences, they are less likely to choose a career in education.
What are the consequences of black males evading a tacit moral obligation to teach? Several years ago, CNN suggested that placing black men in the classroom could be the answer to solving problems in the black community such as gang violence, high school dropout rates and fatherless homes. According to most reports, the lack of black male teachers results in abysmal deficiencies in the educational progress of black male students.
Unfortunately, this narrative on black male teachers is based on supposition and stereotyping, not a careful analysis of the data. Males of all races are underrepresented in the U.S. teaching force. The percentage of white male students in pre-K through 12th grade is twice the percentage of white male teachers; the percentage of black male students is more than three times the percentage of black male teachers; and the percentage of Hispanic male students is almost seven times the percentage of Hispanic male teachers. Asian males represent less than 0.5 percent of the teaching force. Read the full article: /node/2179
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4) Teacher Facing a False Allegation of Abuse
female and male student, both 6th graders in my class room, teamed up to falsely accuse me, a 12 year veteran, second career male teacher. Both claimed inappropriate touching. The boy wanted to get out of after school tutoring. The girl, frequently off task and written up more than once, wanted to retaliate, and she was jealous of her cousins. Add to that her mother was going through a divorce making her, according to her sister, very angry and bitter.
In addition to the allegation of inappropriate touching on her by the female student, she also spun a tale that I was having an affair with a 14 year old girl, her cousin, who also attended my school, not in my classes. She further alleged I had taken the 14 year old girl on a 90 mile trip to Las Vegas to go shopping. This is so convoluted that numbered player jerseys almost need to be issued. Perpetrating girl (to be known has “H”) has three girl first cousins. They are “M”, “L” (the alleged object of my affections), and “E”. The three girls’ parents, therefore “H’s” aunt and uncle, are “C” and “B”. Read his story: /node/2182
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5) Falsely accused teacher struggles to cope after name cleared
A Quebec elementary school gym teacher says he is struggling to rebuild his life after having been falsely accused of sexual touching.
A rumour began circulating at Henri Fournier’s school in February 2008 involving 19 girls between the ages of eight and 13 who accused him of inappropriately touching girls, sometimes in front of other students.
Officials at Notre Dame de l’Assomption Elementary School in Chateauguay, south of Montreal, took the allegations seriously and suspended Fournier without pay.
He was eventually arrested on 34 charges of sexual touching and spent a week in custody. The case gained a great deal of media attention.
But 20 months later, Fournier — the only male teacher at the school — was cleared on all charges. Read the entire story: /node/2183
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6) Nurturing Men – 10 years ago
MenTeach: It’s interesting to look back a few years to see what articles we were being published. Here’s one story:
Bryan Nelson wants to see more men on the playground and in the classroom.
Two-year-old Emme Sugnet’s feet came out from under her at the top of a playground slide. She slid a couple feet flat on her back wearing that puzzled look toddlers get when trying to decide if they’re wounded. Then she burst into tears. “I want my mommy!” she cried.
Bryan Nelson scooped her up and held her close.
“I know you do,” he murmured. “Of course you do.”
Nelson isn’t Emme’s dad, or even her uncle. He’s a family friend who makes time to baby- sit a half-day every week. Caring for young children has been Nelson’s passion and off-and-on profession since he was a college student.
Now, he’s the first man to become president of the Minnesota Association for the Education of Young Children. With a degree from Harvard behind him, he’s using the position to push his cause — to get more men working in early education. Read the article: /node/2185
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7) Men in early childhood – Evidence?
As an early childhood professional of 30 years experience in a range of direct and indirect EC roles, I am obviously interested in the issue of males in early childhood settings, and I am broadly in favor of having more men in EC and the early years of primary school. I love the stories you provide of men who are doing great things in EC and primary schools, often in difficult and/or disapproving environments. However, I am always disappointed to find that any articles purporting to have ‘evidence’, ‘research’ and ‘experts say’ are anything but, at least from a rigorous, academic research perspective.
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8) How to not be angry at women
Not sure how to solve his challenge; but I see and have experienced how woman bashing can get across from people passionate about men inclusion in traditional “women matters”. One thing that would have helped prevent that in the situations I was involved, would be a thoughtful focus on what men can do; rather than the focus on how women don’t let them do it (which I personally have observed). The latter is not intentional. Read the entire comment: /node/2155
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9) Swiss Male teacher discusses gender debate
The number of male primary school teachers is growing but they’re still in the minority in Switzerland. A politician has called for a 30 percent male quota on teacher training courses to encourage more men to work in primary classrooms. Does it matter whether your children are taught by a man or a woman while they’re at primary school? Mark Hammond has been teaching for 14 years and is a year six class teacher at the Geneva English School. List to the radio interview: /node/2187
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10) Early childhood education could do with more men: Experts
When Mr Bryant Goh tells people that he is studying to become a pre-school teacher, the most common response he gets is: “Isn’t it a job for women?”
His parents were also apprehensive and even offered to pay for his studies overseas, in related disciplines like psychology.
It took three years of bringing up early childhood theories over dinner and maintaining a high grade point average for his diploma in early childhood education to prove to them that it was not a spur of the moment decision.
Now, after graduating among the top of his class at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, the 24-year-old is moving on to further his studies in the field.
Mr Goh will be one of the first two male students to enter the Singapore Institute of Technology’s (SIT) early childhood degree programme, awarded by Wheelock College in Boston. Read the article: /node/2190
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