News Highlights

Male elementary teachers growing scarce despite concerns

Male elementary teachers have always been rare, and that's not changing despite educators' concerns.

2007-10-08
By Tanner Kent, Free Press Staff Writer [published in The Free Press, Mankato, MN, 10/7/2007]

As Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial Elementary teacher John Madsen roams his classroom helping students with their reading tasks, there doesn’t seem to be anything abnormal about him.

His class is engaged in its work. His chalkboard is awash in Halloween decorations. The letters of the alphabet trim the room.

But there is something odd about Madsen. So odd that his abnormality puts him among a small 9 percent of the nation’s elementary teachers.

Madsen is male.

And further, Madsen is a male teaching elementary children. In fact, he is the only full-time male classroom teacher at LCWM.

“It’s not weird or anything,” Madsen said. “Our staff here is really fun to work with.”

But at the same time, Madsen acknowledges what has become a fact of elementary education: Male teachers are difficult to find.

The National Education Association recently released a report that cited the numbers of male teachers across all grade levels has dropped to a 40-year low. Nationwide, just 21 percent of all teachers are male and 9 percent of elementary teachers are male. According to the Minnesota Department of Education, those numbers are 28 percent and 16 percent statewide, respectively.

“There’s just not many male candidates out there,” said Sharon Schindle, principal of LCWM Elementary. “And I’m not sure why. Male teachers at the elementary level are such an asset — they just bring so much energy.”

Steve Burnett is a third-grade teacher at Hartley Elementary in Waseca and, like Madsen, is the only full-time male classroom instructor at the school.

In his 30-plus years of teaching, Burnett said he has definitely witnessed a decline in male teachers. When he began teaching, Burnett said, he was one of six males teaching classes at grade three or younger. Now, he’s the last of the group.

“It’s sad. I don’t think a lot of males are going into teaching,” Burnett said. “There’s definitely fewer than when I started.”

At Minnesota State University, however, the numbers illustrate a somewhat different story.

Michael Miller, dean of the College of Education, said the percentage of males enrolled in the teaching program — about 35 percent — is well above state and nationwide averages. Miller said that number has even climbed three of four percentage points in the past several years.

But Miller does admit there is a much wider disparity at the elementary level.

“Early education is almost entirely women,” Miller said. “But frankly, the number of males in our program has remained fairly stable over the years.”

That MSU’s numbers have remained stable or even risen slightly is good news for those parents and educators who think more male teachers at the primary level would be beneficial.

Madsen and Burnett agreed that with so many single-parent and split families, young children are often in need of a male role model. And although both stressed that a man’s teaching style is no more or less effective than a woman’s, they agreed that certain situations seem to call for a male’s guidance.

“A lot of kids go through school without a male influence,” Madsen said. “And that’s sad because then they’ll miss that influence at home and at school.”

What keeps more men from entering early elementary education remains unclear.

The care of young children has typically — and, perhaps, stereotypically — been viewed as a task best left to women. That would certainly explain the much higher percentages of men teaching at the secondary level. But, like the National Education Association’s report states, male teachers at the secondary level are decreasing, too.

Burnett speculated that salary has an effect on why males choose different professions. After all, males are the traditional breadwinners in families where one parent stays at home with children. Madsen wondered if the reduction in industrial arts classes because of budget concerns may also have something to do with men choosing other careers. Often, Madsen said, metals and woodworking classes keep young men engaged in school. When they lose those classes, students become disinterested in education.

But whether the disparity between men and women teachers is due to cultural expectations or other more concrete reasons, one thing remains clear: The trend doesn’t seem to be changing.

“I don’t see any different patterns with male teachers,” St. Peter South Elementary Principal Nancy Kluck said. “It’s pretty much been that way since I can remember.”

When Nancy Kluck, the principal at South Elementary in St. Peter, opened up a recent job search for classroom teachers, she had about 10 applications from men.

The total number of applicants was close to 200.

When Lake Crystal opened up a fourth-grade position, LCWM Elementary Principal Sharon Schindle said the ratio of women to men applicants was about 10 to 1.

But this year, the Mankato Area School District hired 13 new elementary classroom teachers, five of which were men.

There seems to be a definite disparity in the ability a district has to attract male elementary teachers. The fact that Mankato was able to hire so many men recently implies Mankato had a broader and perhaps more qualified pool of male candidates.

But Mankato Schools Supt. Ed Waltman said that’s to be expected.

“I do think there’s a difference between sizes and locations of school districts,” Waltman said. “The further you go from regional centers, the harder it is to attract teaching candidates.”

Waseca, one of the area’s larger districts, has only one male teacher at its K-3 levels. St. Peter has a total of 10 male teachers in all of its elementary grades, but only one that teaches students younger than third grade.

But the pattern doesn’t always hold true.

Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton, which is neither large nor anywhere very near a regional center, has three males at its K-3 levels.

“We’re fortunate,” said JWP building coordinator Sherry Trahmns. “But we always hire the candidate who fills the position the best.”

Mankato Human Resources Director JoAnne May said about 25 percent of all the district’s teachers are male, which is right in between state and nationwide averages. At the elementary level where the National Education Association reports only 9 percent of teachers are male, the Mankato Area School District comes in at 14 percent (although that number may be a bit skewed because male and female part-time positions may be counted more than once).

Waltman said there is some feeling among parents and educators within the district that more male teachers would help increase achievement among male students. But he also said there is no research to contradict the district’s policy of hiring the best candidate, regardless of physical considerations.

Even more important, Waltman said, than attracting more male teachers, is attracting minority teacher candidates. Only four or five professional staff in the district are non-white.

“There is some concern that there are fewer male role models,” Waltman said. “But we are equally, or perhaps more concerned about attracting people of color. ... The bottom line is that the candidate pool isn’t there.”

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