Call for more male primary teachers

The President of the Irish Primary Principals’ Network (IPPN) Mr Pat Goff, called for the Department of Education and Skills to immediately address the growing staff gender imbalance in the country’s Primary Schools.

Mr Goff stated that ‘the failure of the 2007 Government initiative to entice more males into the teaching profession may have serious ramifications for Irish society in the future. Children need experience of both male and female teachers as boys in particular need to identify with male role models'. Mr Goff highlighted the fact that almost 100,000 children had to wait until Post Primary level to get their first experience of a male teacher.

IPPN calls on the government to immediately introduce a number of initiatives which should redress the staff gender imbalance in our Primary schools:

• Lower the points requirements for males entering the colleges of education to 375 points while maintaining the entry requirement of 475 points for female entrants to the profession
• Male graduates to commence their teaching career at point 5 on the salary scale as opposed to point 2 for their female counterparts
• A clothing allowance of €2,000 payable to all male teachers engaged in extracurricular activities
• A ‘challenging posting’ allowance to encourage male primary teachers to work in counties outside of Dublin.

Mr Goff, a native of Wexford, also called for the GAA to pay a stipend to all male teachers who promote the national games, particularly hurling. This payment should be made to male teachers in all counties with the exception of Kilkenny and Carlow.