Do Male Teachers Make a Difference?

The disparities in boys’ and girls’ achievement scores at all levels of the education system in Jamaica, make the conversation we are having timely. The International Development Partners (World Bank, USAID/Jamaica) have witnessed their targeted project schools and agencies experimenting with various strategies to improve the performance of boys.  Schools like Polly Ground primary and Jericho primary in St. Catherine have reported positive results as a result of several gender-based experiments at their schools.  We therefore have enough case studies to share with the education community, and we should share these in order to assist other schools that are reporting  that the boys in their schools are underachieving at a higher rate than girls in reading and writing. There is no all-encompassing solution, but let us look at some of the strategies that have worked. These include: use of multiple literacy strategies; male teachers as mentors; action oriented activities such as role plays, debates, field trips, and investigations; single-gender classes; and teaching strategies based on an understanding of how the brain works. 

I have seen successes as they relate to male teachers and the academic performance of boys. This is one of many techniques to engage male students. However, as partners come up with strategies to help our boys to perform well, I have seen where it is critical not to further marginalize boys by doing 'too much' targeting. Is it really in the way they learn? And so do we really need to just incorporate a wider range of classroom techniques to keep boys and girls engaged? What is the role of the wider community in all of this?

It is tempting to think that male teachers should have a positive impact on boys' learning and school achievement. In fact, one school of thought blames the preponderance of female teachers in the school system for boys' underachievement. Boys are being feminized, the idea goes. This then leads to resistance on the part of boys resulting in their frequent exclusion from the teaching learning process. I urge caution in buying this line of argument. The research, except for anecdotal evidence is not strong enough to conclude that men make better teachers of boys. I am a strong advocate for having more male teachers in our school system but not just any male. Some of the men in our schools should not be there-- they are poor models for our boys (and our girls too).On the other hand many female teachers have had very positive impact on boys without feminising them!! Boys themselves are divided on their choice of the sex of their teacher. It is evident from our discussion today that our discussants do not believe that it is merely about the sex of the teacher and pointed instead to teaching strategies and other factors. Teaching and learning are affected by a confluence of factors including teacher expectation. It is one variable that consistently correlates with achievement. For example, if teachers ahve high expectations of a student, that is communicated to the student sometimes explicitly, sometimes implicitly. The student internalises this attitude and behave accordingly (the self-fulfilling prophecy). Teachers must have high expectations for all students. When they do they will then select strategies appropriate for the skills and content to be learned.Active learning is beneficial to both boys and girls. Today's discussion pointed to that. A factor which which I would have wanted more discussion on is hender identity. In other words, how does a boy's gender identity (the kind of man he sees himself as, to put it simplistically) influence how he sees education and schooling? Maybe we might pick this up another time.Thanks to all who contributed today.