The Male Teacher Debate

Abstract

Cave Street Primary is a government school with about 24 teachers, 5 of these being male. The principal and one deputy principal of the school are male and there is another female deputy. In the staff common room there is a long table, often covered in various pieces of literature from the department of education. There is also a small group of arm­chairs arranged in a circle in one corner of the staffroom not far from the fridge, kettle and coffee and tea making facilities. At morning teas and lunch the female teachers tend to congregate along the table whilst the men, including the principal and male deputy, often sit in the arm­chairs. There are variations on this: sometimes one of the male teachers, an early childhood teacher, joins the women’s table and on occasion some of the women will join the armchair circle. However, the staffroom organization very much signifies the table as a women’s space and the armchair circle as a men’s space.