MP Rosemary Barton calls for ‘culture change’ as it has been revealed that less than a quarter of teachers in Northern Ireland are men

However, 40% of primary school principals are men compared to 60% women.

A total of 7,622 primary teachers are women, of whom 1,396 are men.

The ministry said it would now consider measures, such as targeted advertising and scholarships, to encourage more men into the profession in the future.

In secondary schools, the number of male teachers stands at 28.7% (1,712), still far behind the 71.3% (4,247) of women.

You are most likely to find a male teacher in a high school, although the number of male teachers is still less than a third at 32.4% (1,319) versus 67.8% (2,748) of women.

And statistics also show that there is not a single male teacher in a preschool here.

Ulster Member of Parliament Rosemary Barton, a former teacher, said now a “culture change” is needed to encourage more men into the profession.

“The statistics are disappointing following an increase in the number of men who have assumed care roles within their home, whether it is a ‘stay-at-home’ parent or the majority caregiver. caring for an elderly parent or in the medical professions. ,” she said.

“Clearly, there is still a long way to go to demonstrate that the teaching profession needs to encourage more men for the benefit of students of both sexes.

“We need a culture to change to promote the role of men in the teaching profession.”

Special schools are also dominated by female teachers. Only 20.5% (212) of teachers in the sector are men, compared to 79.7% women (833).

When broken down by type of school management, most male teachers are currently employed in the voluntary sector, with 32.7% male (1,060) to 67.3% female (3,240) over. the 3,240 current teachers,

The lowest rate of male teachers is found in the controlled sector (19.7% to 90.3%), which employs the most teachers in Northern Ireland (8,516 in total), figures maintained by the Catholics showing male teachers at 21.8% and women at 78.2% of the workforce. 6,834 employees.

The department said it will encourage more men to enter the teaching profession by examining targeted advertising and scholarships as part of its A Fair Start report released this year.

“A Fair Start, published by the Expert Group on School Failure, is moving forward in haste,” he added.

“One of the actions of this report (Key area 5 – Maximizing the potential of boys) states that“ DfE / DE in collaboration with higher education institutions and providers of initial teacher education and other stakeholders should consider ways to encourage men to pursue higher education, including the teaching profession by using, for example, an advertising campaign to encourage high caliber applicants and / or scholarships.

“Work on this action was to take place in the medium and long term to allow time for research and planning.”

Figures include permanent full-time and part-time teachers and temporary teachers with vacancies, secondments or career breaks. Are excluded substitute teachers, those employed by the authority and not attached to a school and the support staff in class.