Role model, hero or champion? Children's views concerning role models (original) (raw)
Related papers
1 ROLE MODEL, HERO OR CHAMPION? CHILDREN'S VIEWS ABOUT ROLE MODELS
2015
Claims that male role models can improve the behaviour and achievement of boys are familiar and persistent. In the media the lack of male teachers as role models in schools has been cited as a cause for particular concern. However, research has not confirmed such a link; recent UK studies indicate that peers and relatives may be far more important to boys than their teachers. A new study, reported here, explored whether or not children actually see their teachers, whatever their sex, as role models. It inquired directly of children, aged from 10 to 16 years, from four English schools in different socioeconomic environments, about their role models, and about what they regard as important attributes for a role model. This article illustrates the range of role models adopted by young people today, and their reasons for choosing them. Teachers are not prominent amongst them!
Gender and Education
The call for more males to work with children in their formative years remains prevalent in education discourse across the globe. Assertions that these men will positively address boys' poor behaviour and underachievement, as well as serving as father figures and role models for boys, continue to fuel international policy making and shape media reporting and public opinion. This paper interrogates findings from original research which set out to explore the perceptions of white male primary school educators in England (both teaching and training) in relation to the term 'role model'. The results, drawn from a rigorous analysis of in-depth focus group interviews, highlight intriguing similarities and differences in professional thinking and suggest the need for a re-imaging of the term. The research has large-scale implications in terms of suggesting important revisions to 'more-men' policy making, for work-based professional training and development, and in informing societal discourse.
British Educational Research Journal, 2008
A number of countries are running role model recruitment drives under the assumption that like is good for like: ethnic minority teachers should teach ethnic minority children, women should teach girls, and so on. The empirical basis for this would appear to be case study and personal reflection. This article will examine quantitative data to test the hypothesis that male teachers produce more positive attitudes amongst boys and female teachers amongst girls. Using data from the Performance Indicators in Primary Schools (PIPS) Project, information from 413 separate classes for 11 year-olds (in England) was examined. One hundred and thirteen were taught by males and 300 by females. All the pupils completed questionnaires that were designed to measure attitude to school, reading, mathematics and science. In addition, background data on those pupils were collected, including cognitive measures, attainment scores, ability measures and home background measures. The data were examined to look at attitudes using multilevel models controlling for background factors. The analysis concentrated on interaction effects between the gender of the teacher and the gender of the pupil and the results gave little support for those who advocate recruitment drives with role models in mind.
2014
International calls have frequently been made by policy makers and professional/public discourse for more male teachers to enter the education profession under the assumption that they will act as role models for boys. The role of these male teachers as role models is an attempt to not only raise boys’ academic achievements but to help improve standards of behaviour and attitudes towards learning. Their presence also is designed to offer those boys who are living in single-parent families with a father figure. However, a level of ambiguity surrounds the male role model argument and this paper is written to critically explore this. The paper examines the views of English and Irish male teachers at early childhood (0-8) and post-primary (12-18) in relation to the concept of the male teacher as a role model, considering if and how male role models differ depending on the age of the child, and whether female teachers serve as role models for boys. Based on the findings gathered through ...
2005
A number of countries are running role model recruitment drives under the assumption that like is good for like: ethnic minority teachers should teach ethnic minority children, women should teach girls, and so on. The empirical basis for this would appear to be case study and personal reflection. This article will examine quantitative data to test the hypothesis that male teachers produce more positive attitudes amongst boys and female teachers amongst girls. Using data from the Performance Indicators in Primary Schools (PIPS) Project, information from 413 separate classes for 11 year-olds (in England) was examined. One hundred and thirteen were taught by males and 300 by females. All the pupils completed questionnaires that were designed to measure attitude to school, reading, mathematics and science. In addition, background data on those pupils were collected, including cognitive measures, attainment scores, ability measures and home background measures. The data were examined to look at attitudes using multilevel models controlling for background factors. The analysis concentrated on interaction effects between the gender of the teacher and the gender of the pupil and the results gave little support for those who advocate recruitment drives with role models in mind.
Should Male Primary School Teachers be There Principally as Role Models for Boys?
Universal Journal of Educational Research, 2013
There is a worldwide debate about the need for male teachers as role-models especially for boys. This might motivate young men to start a teacher career expecting that their gender is the essential qualification. In a German project we interviewed upper secondary students regarding their study plans and found that most of them thought that teaching-i.e. in primary schools-would be both a rather boring job as to the intellectual demands and at the same time be rather challenging as to the personal dedication to children. Both make a teaching career unattractive for most of them. Future teachers in their first year of study, on the other hand, find the dedication to children exciting, but are not very interested in intellectual challenges. On such grounds, recruitment of men with role-model arguments-so the focus in this article-might result in a de-qualification of the teaching profession. The perspective must therefore emphasize the required competencies-including gender competencies.
Gender and Education, 2016
This paper focuses on the testimonies of three male primary school staff members who utilised social and emotional learning (SEL) in their everyday practice within their respective schools. The data, collected through individual interviews, illustrates how these three men interpreted SEL, and their role in the development of children's social, emotional and behavioural (SEB) skills, in response to their perceptions of pupils' home-life. In particular, the sample identified the children's fathers' perceived ability/inability as a main cause of pupils' SEB deficiencies. Consequently, the three male staff members maintained that in order to advocate and encourage alternative, appropriate behaviours, they should act as 'replacement fathers' and become 'role models'. The findings contribute to existing debates relating to the notion of 'positive male role models' in primary schools and the propensity for staff to engage in parental blame. The implications of these findings are discussed, and suggestions that call for a more democratic and cooperative exchange of knowledge between parents and teachers are made.