Primary masculinities: how male teachers are regarded as employees within primary education – a global systematic literature review

Abstract

There is a critical lack of male teachers moving into primary education. The primary school teacher workforce in Australia currently comprises 92% female teachers and 8% male teachers. This gender imbalance has recently been highlighted by the Australian Council for Educational Research as one of the key factors contributing to the current teacher shortage in primary education in Australia. The situation is exacerbated as male teachers working within the primary sector are retiring and not being successfully replaced. This ongoing lack of male teachers is rarely ever viewed as problematic. A gender imbalance in primary education appears now to be culturally embedded, establishing symbolic barriers that work to maintain a largely female workforce. To date, little attention has been given within the Australian context to this situation. This literature review explores research over the last six years regarding the lack of men in primary education and identifies several key themes that have been well interrogated, as well as a number of significant gaps requiring attention.

Keywords:

• Primary education
• men
• masculinity
• literature review
• Australia