Background to the Research

• This study is a response to concerns about decreasing numbers of male teachers in primary schools. The central aim is to explore the factors which influence the choice of primary teaching as a career for the imbalance of men and women choosing to become primary teachers.

Research Approach

• Data in the study were generated using a questionnaire developed in view of relevant research literature and focus group responses from 36 sixth-form students in three grammar schools, discussing teaching teaching as a career option. A total of 1036 lower and upper sixth (A Level) students (542 girls and 478 boys) from a representative sample of twelve grammar schools across Northern Ireland completed a questionnaire. A further 334 students in initial primary teacher training courses at Stranmillis and St.Mary's Colleges completed the questionnaire, modified for the purpose on the basis of focus group discussions with trainees in both institutions.

Main Findings

• In Northern Ireland, the decline in the numbers of males in the primary teaching workforce reflects the general trends in England and Wales. In four of the five Education and Library Boards in Northern Ireland, the percentage of males in the primary teaching workforce decreased between 1992 and 1997. In one Board (Northern Education and Library Board) the percentage of males increased in this period.
  
  
• Patterns of recruitment of males to primary school teaching in Northern Ireland are inherently volatile. Recent trends show that the proportion of males entering primary teacher training, while still low relative to the proportion of females, to be the highest level since 1978.
  
  
• The quality of the intake of primary teacher training in Northern Ireland, as measured by total A-Level points, is not only significantly higher than it is in England and Wales, it also continues to rise steeply.
  
  
• Factors which influence the choice of primary teaching as a career have not previously been the subject of research in Northern Ireland. There is little empirical evidence relating specifically to such factors in other countries in the existing literature. Moreover, gender-related considerations in the process of career choice decision-making generally, and in relation to teaching as a career in particular, are found to have received scant attention in previous research studies.
  
  
• Career preferences reveal that teaching is a first choice of 15% and a second choice of 17% of sixth-formers. Thus, approximately one third of A-Level students are seriously considering teaching as a career option. Of those naming teaching as their first choice of career, 67% are female and 33% male. Of those naming teaching as their second choice of career, 56% are female and 44% male. Teaching as a career is seriously considered by 42% of males and 46% of females. Of this 42% of males, there is a clear bias in favour of secondary teaching with more than half (53%) aspiring to working in a secondary school while only 22% are considering primary teaching. On the other hand, among 46% of females there is a tendency towards favouring primary teaching in their career considerations.
  
  
• At the sixth-form stage, respondents have reasonably clear career preferences and these preferences vary in terms of clarity or certainty with which they were held. Males and females aspiring to enter the teaching profession are not any more certain about their career choice than males and females generally, although females declaring their intention to teach in a primary school are marginally the most certain of all the groups.