Choosing Primary Teaching as a Career: The perspectives of males and females in training

This paper is set in the context of concern about the decline in the numbers of males entering the primary teaching profession in the United Kingdom and focuses on the views of male and female primary teacher trainees as to the factors which influenced their decision to enter the teaching profession. Findings of this study reveal that females in training claim to have been motivated by the perceived intrinsic aspects of primary teaching whereas place a greater emphasis on perceived extrinsic aspects. Males in training report an awareness of the feminization of primary teaching but consider a male presence in primary schools to be important. Males are also aware that they may have to confront societal negativity about choosing to work with young children-females have no such concerns. The paper discusses these and other findings in terms of wider issues relating to the gendering of work and draws conclusions which may be helpful to policy-makers or institutions recruiting to courses of initial teacher training.