Collegiality vs role models: gendered discourses and the ‘glass escalator’ in English primary schools

ABSTRACT

Attempting to encourage and retain male primary school teachers can lead to the ‘glass escalator’ phenomenon, the fast-tracked advancement that men receive in gender-atypical work. Currently, in primary schools, males are disproportionately represented in management positions making up 35% of senior staff, while conversely only making up 15% of the general teaching staff. This paper presents one main theme from current doctoral research exploring how the ‘glass escalator’ operates in English primary schools, presenting findings on gendered discourses on the role of ‘promotion’ for teachers. The identification of two conflicting views demonstrates a disparity between internal teaching pedagogies and external societal opinions upholding the ‘glass escalator’ phenomenon.

Abbreviations: OFSTED: Office for Standards in Education; CAQDAS: Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis

KEYWORDS:

• Glass escalator
• collegiality
• male role models
• male primary school teachers

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank all those that took part in this study and the extensive insight they provided.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.