Exploring expectations and experiences of students in primary school-based training

The aim of this research project is to increase our understanding of the expectations and experiences of students and teacher mentors on the primary initial teacher education (ITE) routes, during school-based training. This multidisciplinary project will provide research to underpin the development of our own practice in primary ITE recruitment, support and preparation for employment.

Specifically we are exploring why there is a negative gap in the completion rates for males in primary compared to females, so that appropriate interventions can be employed within the improvement plan for primary ITE

The Men in Teaching project explored why there is a negative gap in the completion rates for males in primary compared to females and factors which might influence the decisions of male student teachers to either withdraw or complete their programme.

The discourse between male student teachers on the postgraduate primary initial teacher education (ITE) programme and their teacher mentors within their weekly meetings during school-based training, was recorded. The participants’ perceptions of that discourse were explored in an interview, as well as the male student teachers’ perceptions of what conditions enabled them to successfully complete their training on the programme, and the role of their mentor in this. The discourse was coded and themed. Although there was only a small number of participants, it appeared that male student teachers appeared to struggle less when they had buy in to the stereotypes they encountered in school. If they accept that as a man they will ‘do’ the PE, computing etc. The men who struggled more were the ones who did not accept these stereotypes. Overall, each participant had a very different experience and perceptions of the factors influencing them to continue in teaching.

Through working on the project colleagues were made aware of some of the issues associated with male retention, enabling them to be more sensitive to potential issues that male student teachers were experiencing in their schools, increasing their understanding of the expectations and experiences of male student teachers.

The project was carried out in 2017-2018. We found in 2015-16 to 2016-17 there was a significant difference between male (22% withdrawals) and female (5% withdrawals) retention compared to 2017-18 to 2019-20 where there was no significant difference between male (9% withdrawals) and female (4% withdrawals) retention (but a drop in % of males recruited).