Vive la difference?

The increasing feminisation of the teaching profession was highlighted in a recent study from Queen's University Belfast.

Researchers looked at what motivates men and women to become primary teachers. The results, published last month in Primary concerns: gender factors in choosing primary school teaching , show that young men value "extrinsic" factors like pay, status and other people's view of the job, while women attach more weight to "intrinsic" aspects like job satisfaction and mental stimulation. They also found that young men and women share several perceptions about teaching, including the belief that teaching carries some prestige, but that it's not high compared to other professions; that it is intellectually stimulating and of value to society and that it is associated with females. The researchers asked senior second-level students in the North what their career ambitions were, how they perceived teaching as a career and whether they themselves had considered teaching. Male teacher trainees were also surveyed to see why they had chosen this particular career. The study has been published by the Equal Opportunities Commission for Northern Ireland.