Abstract:

Profession of early-school teacher in Poland is in 99% pursued by women, which constitutes manifestation of school feminism and “pink collar” phenomenon (Gromkowska-Melosik, 2013). The reason for this is sought within the stereotype of perceiving the roles of men and women in society applying natural born predispositions and skills (Nelson, 2004,2006, Nardone, 2014) in development of labor market (social devaluation). Female-teachers are frequently headed with non-realized gender stereotypes, leading to unequal pupils’ treatment, which may be documented for example as differentiation in reaching the teaching results within the frame of the sciences – „PISA Shock” (Nesse, 2011) effect. Gender influences also the educational choices, i.e. education type and profile – women most frequently choose pedagogical schools, which closes the circulation of faulty feminization circle for this profession. Quite often women themselves generate and duplicate described hereinbefore stereotypes. Hence, the aim of researches was to gather opinions on conditions that determine the perception of male-teacher role in primary education. Surveys justified educational choices for men that result from generic socialization process, ascribing the gender into defined type of education and in this particular case – marginalising and discriminating the role of man in bringing up and educational process in early years of child development. The major research question was: how teachers themselves perceive the role of male-teachers? The survey was carried out with opinion poll (author’s questionnaire) for the group of 120 Polish female-teachers of primary education (average age 43 , work experience 13 years). Obtained results made it possible to analyse 4005 answer’s categories within the following domains: personal experiences from work with male-teachers, characteristic features of their working style, advantages and risks for primary education resulted from their work as well as factors determining their absence in primary education. Results revealed diversified experiences - almost half of interviewees think that male-teachers activated respect and authority while the second half – that they could not take control over class and introduced casual atmosphere. Regarding the features predestining men for teacher’s profession most frequently listed were the following: ambition, sense of humour, openness for novelties and creativity as well as maintaining authority, order and respect. Researches revealed however that for majority of interviewed women the presence of male-teachers at schools evoke stress and distance. As a potential thread from the male-teacher’s side there were mentioned: the lack of empathy, understanding and sensitivity. The aforementioned reasons for the absence of male-teachers were categorized within the domains of social and economic status of profession (low salary and prestige), personal predispositions, thread of pathological activities (paedophilia), social policy of the country (the lack of actions popularizing male-teachers). However, present social and economic transformations that create new or re-construct previous picture of professional roles allow to recognize the evolution of perceiving the stereotypic tasks of males in education process. Just through the prism of such tendencies there may be postulated the change in the attitude towards the work of male-teachers, keeping in mind the results obtained from the researches.

Keywords:

Male-teacher, primary education, gender.