in praise of male teachers

Zac has been enjoying school even more than usual this past term. And I put it all down to his new teacher. His original teacher left after term 1 and I must say I was a little concerned about how Zac would react to a change.

Turns out that Mr K was the best thing that could have happened in Zac's Year 2 life. Just the right balance of nice guy and cool dude, Mr K plays drums in a band, does karate and put in place a strict homework policy. Zac thinks Mr K is 'fantastic', Mr K told us he thinks Zac is 'awesome'. It's a match made in heaven, obviously.

I don't want to be flippant about this change, though. Because I think it has been significant. Aged 7 and a half, Zac is really starting to look around for male role models outside his family. Fortunately he finds one in his classroom. The difference in Zac's attitude to his teacher is subtle (because he has always loved his teachers, all women up to now) but it is definitely there. Just a little more attentive to school work, just a little more willing to share his ideas about school at home.

Swimming lessons have also yielded a male teacher this term: a teenaged boy really. Of course Zac worships him and tries hard to impress him. As a result Zac is moving up a grade in swimming and I put it all down to the motivation provided by a bloke.

This post isn't, of course, meant to denigrate in any way the contribution of the female teachers Zac has had. But there is a definite need for male primary school (and learn-to-swim) teachers for little boys who are just beginning to think about what it's like to be men.

Comments

[pamela]

It was not so long ago that male teachers were not allowed to teach early childhood (pre-grade 3) ... and the first ones that I knew suffered quite a lot from even wanting to go there.

[Kirsten (same person, new blog)]

Hmm, very good point. I don't think Liam has any male teachers at school at the moment. His main teacher - who we love - is a woman, who he should have (all being equal) until year 7. He does have a male handwork teacher though - the main handwork teacher is a woman, but she is leaving and training her male replacement.

Anyway, all this to say it's something work thinking about. I don't think Liam really does have many strong (as in regular) male role models outside of his dad and grandfathers. And he's 7 and a quarter - I didn't realise he and Zac were so close in age.