Being the ‘right’ kind of male teacher: the disciplining of John

Abstract

In a context where the lack of male teachers is constructed as a worrying concern for many Western education systems, men who make the decision to become teachers, particularly in early childhood and primary education, are often adulated. However, alongside this adulation sits an expectation to be a ‘real man’. This paper tells the story of John, a male primary school teacher who left the teaching profession after one year as a result of incommensurable differences between the expectations held of him as a male teacher and his identity as a primary school teacher. While not an attempt to position John as a victim, this paper suggests that expectations of male teachers, such as to be effective disciplinarians, have normalising effects on men within the teaching profession that, in this case, led to a rejection of teaching as a career path. We contend that the image of the ‘imagined male teacher’ that underpins both current calls for more male teachers and John’s departure from schooling is likely to have a negative impact upon all students (boys and girls) and also denigrates the work of female teachers.

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