Females continue to dominate the number of teachers in training

Erica Virtue, Senior Gleaner WriterMale teachers are few and far between in the island's classrooms, and current indications are that this situation is set to worsen in years to come.
The numerical dominance by women in teacher-training educational institutions continued in 2012, with most reporting only a smithering of men seeking to learn how to teach.
The 2012 Economic and Social Survey Jamaica (ESSJ) shows that with the exception of the G.C. Foster College of Physical Education, females outnumber men in teacher training, with the gap being as much as 16 to one in some institutions.
At Bethlehem Moravian College in St Elizabeth, 85 males and 629 females were in training last year.
In the meantime, at Shortwood Teachers' College there were 838 women and 57 men in training, while at the Sam Sharpe Teachers' College there were 734 females to 122 males.
The gap was closer at the Edna Manley College of Visual and Performing Arts, with 255 males and 284 females in training last year.But despite the gap, president of the Jamaica Teachers Association (JTA), Clayton Hall, would not support any amnesty or affirmative action to increase the number of men being trained to become teachers.
"We do not believe the current matriculation requirement should be altered to benefit males, because the reasons for the current situation are varied. The main reason continues to be economics and the expectations of the males by the society," argued Hall.
"Men are viewed as the providers, and one of the worst things that a responsible working male could be accused of is not being able to adequately support his family. If that happens, a man will leave the classroom and drive a taxi in order to make up the shortfall," argued Hall.
He said socialisation and expectations of men put pressure on their contribution.
Dominance at all levels
Hall noted that the dominance of women continues at all level of the education sector, with females heading the six regional offices of the Ministry of Education; two female deputy chief education officers; a female chief education officer and a female permanent secretary in the education ministry.
According to Hall, the JTA has no documentation on the causal relationship between the absence or presence of male teachers and the performance of boys.
But last week, one parent was adamant that the absence of males in the classroom negatively affects her son's performance.
"When my son goes into a class with a male form teacher his grades go up. Whenever he has a female form teacher his grades go down," said the mother of an eighth-grader in a Corporate Area secondary school.
She argued that male teachers have more control of their classrooms, particularly in their dealings with the boys.
Socialisation
However, social activist and community advocate, Dr Henley Morgan, said that parents and the rest of Jamaica should get accustomed to seeing females dominating the classrooms as teaching does not have a natural appeal to men.
According to Morgan, the men in some communities are not socialised to choose some professions, and teaching is one such area.
"In selection of professions within the subculture of the inner city - which is where these problems are magnified - there is definitely a difference with how the sexes choose occupations.
"It does not pay comparatively what other professions pay. Men want to do dances, and spend a lot of time around studios to make music," said Morgan, who has a doctorate in educational administration and is the former provost of the University College of the Caribbean.
"Many of us appreciate the reasoning that the way curricula is delivered is more appealing to the female. Even the images that are used, the stories that are written, the characters that are used are more appealing to females," added Morgan, who said he did not "buy the argument" that the absence of male teachers affects the performance of boys.