It isn’t due to a health pandemic or lack of funding, but rather the fact the number of male teachers at the primary school level in Western Sydney has plummeted to critically low levels, with some primary schools not having any men among their teaching ranks.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), less than 18 per cent of teachers in primary schools across the country are male. In NSW, this figure falls to 14 per cent, and schools across Western Sydney mirror this concerning number. There has been a 50 per cent drop from the 1980s, when roughly one in three teachers was male.
Natalie Farrugia, who teaches at Widemere Primary School in Greystanes, admits something needs to be done to fix this trend.
“There is not one male teacher at the school I work at and it’s appalling,” said Farrugia, who is 23 and embarking on what she hopes is a long teaching career.
“It is such a wonderful and rewarding career, but it is a career that can be for anyone and everyone. It’s time to break the stereotype of teaching being a female job.
“Teaching needs to be promoted as a valued career for men. We need to see more men when advertising the education profession, including making male teachers more visible, especially for the lower age groups.”
This problem isn’t confined to Australia, with a number of western countries seeing similarly low numbers for male teachers. In the USA only 23% of primary school teachers are male, while in the UK it is only 15%.
At the secondary school level in Australia, nearly 39% of the teaching population are male, while in NSW it is nudging 41%.
There are various reasons given for males not pursuing teaching careers at primary school level, from the thought that women are more nurturing with children, to the widely held view that men are concerned about working with younger age groups due to potential allegations that could be made against them.
Farrugia believes the key to fixing this is to show men that working with young children has far more reward than risk.
“I think children would love to have more male figures and role models in their lives. Kids are so appreciative of those who give their time and attention to them,” Farrugia said.
Farrugia, who completed her teaching degree at Macquarie University, isn’t convinced the numbers will increase any time soon.
“When I was studying only a few years ago, in a class of more than 30 students, we honestly had on average one male per class. As we got closer to the end, they were dropping like flies,” she said.
Farrrugia’s comments are accurate, with only 28% of students enrolled in initial teacher education programs across the country identifying as male, but this figure incorporates secondary education as well as special education, for primary school it is thought to be much lower.
The pay rates for teachers makes for interesting reading. Primary school teachers in NSW expected to earn between $75,000 to $122,000, with the average sitting at just below $96,000 in 2024, which lines up with the average salary for employees across Australia for all industries based on ABS data.
