Real Men or Real Teachers?

Abstract

In this study, the author used ethnographic and focus group interviews to examine the lived experiences of men who teach in the primary grades. Several themes arose from the men's narratives. First, the men are under closer scrutiny than their women peers regarding contact with the children. Second, there is considerable ambiguity regarding the kind of “male role model” the men feel they are expected to portray. Third, there is a sexual division of labor that reinforces the image of men as having different teaching styles than women teachers. In response to the cumulative effects of these phenomena, the men must adopt compensatory behaviors causing them to unintentionally reproduce traditional forms of masculinity.

Male Elementary Preservice Teachers' Gendering of Teaching

“…Studies of male primary teachers have demonstrated how they hold themselves accountable, and are held accountable, for behaving in gender appropriate ways (Bittner & Cooney, 2001;Coulter & McNay, 1993;DeCorse & Vogtle, 1997;Marshall, Robeson, & Keefe, 1999;Martin & Luth, 2000;Montecinos & Nielsen, 1997;Sargent, 2001). In a study of 35 male primary teachers, Sargent (2001) found that teaching at the elementary level was reported to be a mine field of Multicultural Perspectives Vol.…”

“…In a study of 35 male primary teachers, Sargent (2001) found that teaching at the elementary level was reported to be a mine field of Multicultural Perspectives Vol. 6, No.…”

“…First, treating masculinity as a unitary concept is problematic; one should speak of masculinities or male standards (Sargent, 2001;Thompson, Pleck, & Ferrera, 1992). Second, gender-role characterizations erase the contradictory meanings of gender found at the intersection of race, sexuality, and class, thus fixing rather than accounting for gender identity (Britzman, 1993;Dugger, 1991).…”

“…Individuals organize their interactions to express their gender identities and they are predisposed to interpret the behavior of others through gender codes embedded in everyday interactions. In their jobs as teachers, men and women constantly produce and reproduce themselves and others as male or female: the gender of the teacher influences the job of teaching; the job, in turn, has gender characteristics which influence the people who perform it; and, the people with whom teachers work hold them accountable for behaving in gender appropriate ways (Bittner &Cooney, 2001;Sargent, 2001;West & Zimmerman, 1991). In this process of accountability, workers tend to emphasize those job aspects which correspond to their gender identity and reinterpret those traits associated with the opposite gender (Leidner, 1997).…”

“…1997; Hansot, 1993;Sargent, 2001). Ostensibly, in this culture, boys face difficulties in establishing a masculine identity, a danger presumably exacerbated when the child's father does not live in the child's home.…”