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Gender and Education

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Gender balance/gender bias: the teaching profession and the impact of feminisation
Sheelagh Drudy
a a

University College Dublin, Ireland Version of record first published: 15 Jul 2008.

To cite this article: Sheelagh Drudy (2008): Gender balance/gender bias: the teaching profession and the impact of feminisation, Gender and Education, 20:4, 309-323 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09540250802190156

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Gender and Education Vol. 20, No. 4, July 2008, 309323

Gender balance/gender bias: the teaching profession and the impact of feminisation
Sheelagh Drudy*
University College Dublin, Ireland
sheelagh.drudy@ucd.ie SheelaghDrudy 0 400000July 2008 20 2008 Originaland Education 0954-0253 Francis Gender&Article 10.1080/09540250802190156 CGEE_A_319182.sgm Taylor and (print)/1360-0516 (online) Francis

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The teaching of young children has long been dominated by women. This global phenomenon is firmly rooted in issues relating to economic development, urbanisation, the position of women in society, cultural definitions of masculinity and the value of children and childcare. There have been expressions of concern by the media, by government ministers, and others, in a number of countries about the level of feminisation of the teaching profession. This paper focuses on this important issue. It reviews current research and critically analyses international patterns of gender variations in the teaching profession and considers why they occur. It gives particular consideration to a number of key questions that have arisen in debates on feminisation: Do boys need male teachers in order to achieve better? Do boys need male teachers as role models? Are female teachers less competent than male teachers? Does feminisation result in a reduction in the professional status of teaching? Keywords: teaching; feminisation; profession; competence; role models; gender

Introduction The teaching of young children has long been dominated by women. This global phenomenon is firmly rooted in issues relating to economic development, urbanisation, the position of women in society, cultural definitions of masculinity and the value of children and childcare (Drudy et al. 2005). There has been a proliferation of media scare stories and moral panics about the underachievement of boys. Indeed, there have been expressions of concern by government ministers in a number of countries (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) 2005; Skelton 2007). It has been argued that one way of capturing the changes underway both in teaching and in the wider dimensions of Western societies is through the use of the concept of feminisation and an accompanying masculinity crisis (Haywood, Popoviciu, and Mac an Ghaill 2005). This paper reviews current research and critically analyses international patterns of gender variations in the teaching profession and considers why they occur. It gives particular consideration to a number of key questions that have arisen in debates on feminisation: Do boys need male teachers in order to achieve better? Do boys need male teachers as role models? Are female teachers less competent than male teachers? Does feminisation result in a reduction in the professional status of teaching? Teaching is a highly feminised profession Policy documents emanating from the OECD, and from the EU, acknowledge the fact that in most member countries the teaching profession is characterised by gender imbalances. Female predominance in school teaching is to be found in most countries throughout the world. In all
*Email: sheelagh.drudy@ucd.ie
ISSN 0954-0253 print/ISSN 1360-0516 online 2008 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/09540250802190156 http://www.informaworld.com

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Percentage of teachers who are female in selected countries. Percentage Teachers who are Female Women more than 90% of primary teachers Women more than 80% of primary teachers Women between 49% and 54% of primary teachers Women between 56% and 59% of lower & upper secondary teachers Women 67% of lower & upper secondary teachers Women 71%, 73%, 81% of lower secondary teachers respectively, 57%, 59%, 56% of upper secondary teachers respectively Women between 28% and 40% of upper secondary teachers

Countries Brazil*, Russian Federation, Italy, Slovakia, United States, United Kingdom, Ireland China, Tunisia United States*, Ireland*, United Kingdom* Canada* Finland*, Italy*, Czech Republic*

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Korea*, Switzerland*, Germany*, Netherlands*

Sources: Countries with asterisk* UNESCO 2003; others UNESCO 2008.

European member states, and indeed in former Eastern bloc satellite states for which figures are available, women are in the majority at primary level and (to a lesser extent) at secondary level (see Table 1). In some countries women are greatly in the majority, with the largest proportions found in Brazil, the Russian Federation, Italy and Slovakia. In only a few countries are the number of women and men in primary teaching approximately equal. Examples of these are China and Tunisia. However, globally, there are some variations even in primary teaching which is the most feminised sector (see Table 2). Figures from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) show that, while the proportion of women in primary teaching increased in all geographical regions worldwide in the latter part of the twentieth century (the period 1970 1997), in the least developed countries they remained in a minority (see Drudy et al. 2005, 163; UNESCO 2003). Indeed, although the figures in Table 2 mask variations between countries within the different regions, the proportions of women in teaching in the different regions worldwide could reasonably be taken as indicators of the stage of economic development in various regions (Drudy et al. 2005; UNESCO 2008). At secondary level internationally, the percentage of women teachers is lower than at primary level. For example, in OECD countries the United States, the United Kingdom and Ireland, Italy, Canada, Finland and the Czech Republic have some of the highest proportions of women teachers in secondary schools. At the other end of the spectrum there are some countries with very low proportions of female teachers at secondary level. Exact comparisons are difficult as many countries combine their figures for primary and lower secondary and provide upper
Table 2. Females as a percentage of all primary teachers in the different world regions (Year 2005). Females as a Percentage of All Primary Teachers 59.5% 77.4% 84.4% Data not available 45.3%

World Region East Asia and the Pacific Latin America and the Caribbean North America and Western Europe South and West Asia Sub-Saharan Africa
Source: UNESCO 2008.

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secondary separately, whereas others combine lower and upper secondary and provide primary figures separately. There are also slight variations according to the different compilations of databases (e.g. as between OECD and UNESCO figures, and sometimes even between different tables produced by each of these organisations). The proportions of women in upper secondary are particularly low in the following countries: the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and Korea (UNESCO 2003). As for less developed countries, the proportion of women in secondary level teaching is even smaller than that in primary teaching (Drudy et al. 2005, 163). Why do so few men become teachers? Perceptions of the low level of men choosing to be teachers were explored in a study of school students and student teachers carried out in Ireland by this author and colleagues (Drudy et al. 2005). Figure 1 presents the views of student teachers already undertaking initial teacher education courses for primary teaching, and final year school students, on why relatively few men choose teaching, in particular primary teaching. The perception that primary teaching is a womans job, or that it relates to a mothers role, was the most frequently offered explanation by both the school students and the student teachers
Figure 1. Reasons offered by school students and student teachers for the falling number of males entering primary teaching, by gender.

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Reasons for Few er Males in Primary Teaching

Student Teacher Male School Leaver Male 60 50 Percentage 40 30 20 10 0 Low pay/better pay elsewhere High points/Honours Irish Fear of abuse allegations Primary teaching unattractive/uninteresting Attraction of other jobs/career opportunities Young children difficult Males unsuited/dislike working with children Woman's job/female dominated Women better with children Other Student Teacher Fem ale School Leaver Female

Reasons Offered

Figure 1. Reasons offered by school students and student teachers for the falling number of males entering primary teaching, by gender.

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for the low proportion of male entrants to primary teaching, with 42% of the school students and 45% of the student teachers offering this reason. However, these overall percentages masked very considerable gender differences. Females offered this reason much more frequently than males. The second most common reason given by both groups was the attraction of other careers. Again, there were marked gender differences here, as almost twice as many boys as girls suggested this. The third most commonly offered reason by school students was a perception of primary teaching as unattractive as boring, hassle causing, stressful or requiring too much patience. Low pay which is often given as the prime reason for fewer males in teaching came joint fourth for school students but was offered more frequently (and in joint second place) by student teachers. The reasons suggested for the dropping numbers of male primary teachers indicated a bias towards seeing the ideal primary teacher as female, based on an essentialist belief that a womans nature tends to make her better with children. This belief was stronger among males than among females, more of whom were convinced of the potential of both sexes to teach at primary level. In this study there was a strongly perceived association among respondents between the nurturing role of women and their assumed greater suitability for teaching very young children. The domestic ideology which provides cultural support for the notion that womens careers should be compatible with homemaking responsibilities, while weakening somewhat over the last couple of decades in Ireland and elsewhere, was still perceptible. It was evident in a number of ways in the findings in this study e.g. in the perception of school students and, albeit to a lesser extent, student teachers, that women were best suited to the career of primary teaching. No such ideology existed to provide a connection between mens careers and homemaking/parental responsibilities. Obviously, patterns of choice or lack of choice of teaching as a profession are linked to the social construction of masculinity and femininity. Research indicates that the feminisation of teaching is a cumulative historical and social process. The manner in which the feminisation of teaching has occurred involves subtle patterns of socialisation in Western cultures. In many Western societies there has been an ideological link between womens domestic roles and their commitment to teaching. This domestic ideology proposes that women are naturally more disposed towards nurture than are men. Somewhat contradictorily, recent debates have focused on the assumed need for young male children especially at primary school to have male teachers as role models. Do boys need male teachers in order to achieve better? Concerns have been expressed that boys require male teachers if they are to develop properly both academically and personally. This expression of concern focuses in particular on perceived male underachievement in relation to their female counterparts. Recent research and public examination results in many countries have tended to confirm patterns of gender differences in academic achievement i.e. on average, in the last decade and a half of the twentieth century in most of the developed world girls have performed better (OECD 2007, 43). Research has suggested that girls learn to read earlier, obtain higher grades and cooperate more with their teachers. However, in order to understand and address this appropriately, the need has been identified for more sophisticated and nuanced analysis of male and female achievement rates, incorporating factors such as social class, classroom interaction patterns, language competences and school settings, and different types of assessment (Epstein et al. 1998; Lynch 2000; Gorard, Rees, and Salisbury 1999; Elwood 1999; Jones and Myhill 2004). Considerable research has also shown that teachers need to be aware of their own patterns of interaction with male and female pupils and its impact on them (Hopf and Hatzichristou 1999; Cammack and Phillips 2002; Martino, Lingard, and Mills 2004; Jones and Myhill 2004; Nambissan 2005). The widespread findings of boys dominance of much of the classroom interaction during whole class teaching, and the fact that many teachers behave differently in their interactions with girls and boys suggest this is another intervening

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variable in patterns of achievement and that these research findings should be incorporated into teacher education programmes (Drudy and U Chathin 2002; Younger, Warrington, and Williams 1999; Einarsson and Granstrm 2002; Tsouroufli 2002; Weaver-Hightower 2003; Gray and Leith 2004; Beaman, Wheldall, and Kemp 2006; Myhill and Jones 2006). It must be acknowledged here, though, that gender issues are either low on the agenda of teacher education programmes (Gray and Leith 2004), engender resistance (Poole and Isaacs 1993; Mills 2004), or require careful handling in order not to generate fear (Malmgren and Weiner 1999, 2001). There has been a tendency among journalists, policy-makers and other social commentators, to connect the issue of boys performance in schools with the feminisation of teaching (Miller 1996). In some cases female teachers have been used as a scapegoat for boys perceived underachievement. While, without doubt, data on gender differences in performance in public examinations in many countries indicate that girls performance is better overall (Drudy and Lynch 1993; OECD 2007; OFSTED 2003), there is no evidence that this is necessarily correlated with the feminisation of teaching (Drudy et al. 2005). Indeed such evidence as there is indicates the contrary for example, a study of primary children in the UK points out that the gender of teachers had little apparent effect on the academic motivation and engagement of either boys or girls (Carrington et al. 2007). A recent international review of research on gender and education points out that with few exceptions, most empirical studies and reviews indicate that the sex of teachers has little, if any, effect on the achievement of pupils (Sabbe and Aelterman 2007). Do boys need male teachers as role models? A second strand of commentary on the feminisation of teaching (much aired in the media) addresses the lack of male role models in teaching, especially in the primary sector. Concern about the growing feminisation of teaching relates to the perceived benefits for students and teachers of having more males working in schools, especially in terms of providing positive male role models for disengaged boys (OECD 2005). While there is widespread commentary and opinion on the assumed need for male role models, there has been until recently relatively little systematic research on this matter. Such research as has been conducted raises interesting questions including questions about the social construction of masculinity. Some of the media commentary on the feminisation of teaching and the achievement of boys and, indeed, some state policies have been defined (particularly in Australia) as part of a form of backlash politics in relation to the education of girls (Lingard 2003). Research on the social construction of masculinity has deepened understanding of gender differences in achievement and performance (Connell 1995; Mac an Ghaill 1994; Martino 1999; Whitelaw, Milosevic, and Daniels 2000; Benjamin 2001). This research has illustrated the fact that masculinity is not a fixed essence but a shifting, gendered social identity (Nilan 2000). Teachers need to understand how boys construct their gender identities (Renold 2004; Keddie 2006) and help them develop an understanding of the effect of certain forms of masculinity in their lives (Martino 1999). These areas merit further research so that the fears and assertions expressed in the media can be replaced with comment and analysis based on systematic observations. At the moment the best evidence would suggest that policy-makers should focus more on the quality of entrants to the profession rather than on whether they are male or female. The policy goal should be to recruit effective, high calibre teachers whatever their gender (Carrington et al. 2007). Are female teachers less competent than male teachers? Questions such as those raised above indicate certain assumptions about the relative competence of men and women teachers. Ackers examination of debates on teachers (of either sex) indicates

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that much of it reflects a lack of respect for teachers intellectual abilities (Acker 1994, 81). In particular, there is evidence of a low regard for women teachers (ibid.). Issues have also been raised about the stressful impact on women teachers arising from teacher accountability procedures in the UK which, it is argued, move practices away from humanistic, holistic and childcentred pedagogy (Raphael Reed 1998, 667) and towards more phallocentric school cultures based on practices invoked by total quality management. Research by Mahony, Hextall, and Menter (2004) suggests that the introduction of performance management systems into what is a feminised profession represents a move towards the masculinisation of teaching as both an activity and an organisational structure. Internationally, there are little robust data on the comparative competence of men and women teachers already in the profession. There is some information on this issue at point of entry to the profession in the form of gender differences in awards made to graduates of primary and post-primary initial teacher education programmes, and also from skills tests administered to newly qualified teachers. For example, in the United Kingdom the Teacher Training Agency has conducted skills tests in the areas of numeracy, literacy and information and communications technology. These tests provided little evidence of superior competence for either gender. While men passed the numeracy test with fewer attempts than women, the reverse was true for literacy. There was no significant difference between the performance of men and women on the ICT test (Teacher Training Agency 2003). Other research has suggested a somewhat greater tendency for males to withdraw from elementary/primary initial teacher education programmes (Edmonds, Sharp, and Benefield 2002) but there is no evidence that this is linked to the issue of competence. Evidence at point of graduation can be obtained from figures on the comparative levels of awards made to graduating male and female student teachers. Teacher education courses include substantive components of classroom practice which are evaluated through systematic observation, thus providing some evidence on performance in the classroom. A study of gender differences in awards in initial teacher education programmes carried out in the Irish higher education system by this author casts light on these issues (Drudy 2006). This study illustrated that, in Ireland at least, in the period for which figures were analysed, there were no grounds for disparaging the level of achievements of entrants to teaching. A high proportion of graduates of initial teacher education programmes (both male and female) achieved honours (either first or second honours) in their awards. The assessments on which these awards were based involved a combination of performance on practice in the classroom, on assignments and on examinations in the foundation disciplines and curricular areas of education. Indeed, combined with the very competitive nature of entry to teacher education courses in the Irish case, teachers entering the profession in this study appeared to be at a high level of competence, as measured by performance on initial teacher education courses. There were, however, important differences according to gender in the level of awards. Males were much less likely than females to graduate with honours from initial teacher education courses (Drudy 2006). One possible explanation for this was that, in a highly feminised environment, a feminine culture of teaching may have emerged which was disadvantageous to males. To get some insight into whether this was the cause of lower achievements for males, the awards achieved by males and females in initial teacher education on undergraduate courses were compared with the awards achieved by males and females on undergraduate courses in other faculties (ibid.). Gender differences were observable in all faculties i.e. a lower proportion of males achieved honours (first and second honours combined). Males were less likely to achieve honours results even in faculties in which there were very strong male cultures, such as engineering. Indeed, although they were very much in a minority in engineering (20% of graduates in 2000, the year in question), women were more likely to get a first honours as well as to get a second honours degree. Therefore, whatever the impact of gendered cultures in any of the

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faculties, the data on awards provided no evidence that it was the culture of particular courses which was disadvantageous to mens achievement. Other factors appeared to be at play. No evidence of grounds for concern about teacher competence arose from the strongly feminised entry cohort to teaching. The problem appeared to be a different one i.e. how to narrow the performance gap between men and women on initial teacher education courses (ibid.). Has feminisation reduced the professional status of teaching? The question of whether feminisation has reduced the professional status of teaching is a difficult one to answer for a number of reasons. First, there is considerable divergence in the literature on what is denoted by the term profession itself. Second, the question assumes that, at some point in history, there was a high proportion of men in the profession and that it enjoyed high status in society. This may be true in some countries but it is certainly not true in all. Third, the question implies that an enhancement of the professional standing of teaching will result in an increase in the proportion of men in it. Fourth, the question itself raises further questions about the status of women in society as a whole. If a high proportion of women in teaching, or any other occupation is sufficient to reduce its status, what does this reveal about the society itself? What is meant by the term profession? There have been vigorous debates over an extended period concerning the issue of whether teaching is or is not a profession (Drudy and Lynch 1993, 901). Some sociologists (e.g. Johnson 1972, 1977) have argued that professionalism is a peculiar type of occupational control and that it is not an inherent expression of the nature of certain occupations. An occupation, it is argued, is called a profession when it exercises collegiate control, i.e. when it is the primary authority defining the relationship between the giver and receiver of its services. Professional groups, Johnson claims, are those which exercise considerable control over the services they offer, hence the desire of emerging occupations to label themselves professional. In Johnsons schema, teachers are not professionals because they do not exercise sufficient control over their services. On the other hand, Burke (1992, 216) suggests that when a sufficiently developed knowledge base exists to support, inspire and inform the practice of teaching and he argues that it does then one is dealing with a professional area and professional people. Burke also points out that professionals in bureaucratic employments are torn between maintaining their professionalism and striving for working conditions that benefit their status and responsibility (ibid., 194). Professions are those occupational groups which have, by virtue of their formal knowledge, been granted collective license by the state to control the training, the qualification process and the regulation of qualified practitioners (Wilkinson 2005). Doubt has been cast upon the appropriateness of the application of classical professionalism to the teaching profession, although this model of professionalism is still prevalent in much government policy and some scholarship (Mockler 2005). As we have seen above, one important feature which characterised classical professionalism is a high degree of control over entrants and conditions. The difficulty is that, since the nineteenth century, teachers have tended to be controlled by others as Lorties (1975) classic sociological study of teaching in the US points out. Arguably, teaching still differs from other professions in these respects. Established doctors, solicitors and accountants are much more in control of their time, duties and income than are established teachers. Teaching also tends to be more bureaucratised than these professions. An indirect form of control comes in the way of school organisation: teachers have always been physically separated from each other in practice, an organisational process which hinders professional interdependence and collegiality (ibid.). As regards the UK, it has been suggested that teachers in England do not now occupy, nor have they ever occupied, an ideal typical professional jurisdiction (Wilkinson 2005).

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Occupational status is often associated with the designation of an occupation as professional. Teaching is not afforded the same professional prestige as many other occupations which require university degrees, and the principal factors which undervalue its prestige have been suggested above. Etzioni (1969) uses the term semi-professions to describe those occupations which attract a high proportion of women, are subject to tight external control and involve a caring role. From this point of view, teaching and nursing are regarded as having the same occupational status. A useful way to consider the concept of professionalism in contemporary contexts is offered by Sachs (2001) who has identified two discourses in relation to professionalism a democratic and a managerial one. Managerialist professionalism is being reinforced by employing authorities through their policies on teacher professional development with an emphasis on accountability and effectiveness while democratic professionalism, she argues, is emerging from the profession itself. Managerial professionalism has been the more dominant of the two discourses according to Sachs. Managerialism and an audit culture have been the major strategies for managing the risks to education of current social and economic trends and have resulted in the re-writing of earlier definitions of what it means to be an education professional (Hey and Bradford 2004; Day, Flores, and Viana 2007). Managerialism has been associated by many analysts with neo-liberalism. Weiner (2007) points out that neo-liberalism draws on ideas of nineteenth-century liberals who celebrated the rise of capitalism and free markets (hence the neo in its name). Neo-liberalism argues that free markets, unfettered by government regulation, will solve social, economic, and political problems and that government regulation exacerbates or even causes problems, such as schools failure to educate some children (ibid.). Work in New Zealand, for example, has suggested that neo-liberalism has changed the context and purposes of public education and argues that economic rationalism and managerialism, combined with commercialisation and globalisation, have produced an erosion of trust and a degradation of teaching as a profession (Codd 2005). Performativity in the school context is shown to have contradictory elements ranging from an increased feminisation of teaching and the (re)masculinisation of schooling (Arnot and Miles 2005). Managerialism involves re-organising the public sector along the lines of best commercial practice (Mahony, Hextall, and Menter 2004) and performance management systems have recently been introduced in English schools. Evidence of the impact of these new systems in primary and secondary schools, as indicated earlier, suggests that it is one of masculinising school cultures that performance management systems construct cultures that are at odds with professional cultures of teaching and are particularly hostile to women (ibid.). In contrast, according to Sachs (2001), the core of democratic professionalism is an emphasis on collaborative, cooperative action between teachers and other educational stakeholders. This form of professionalism has a close similarity to what Wilkinson (2007) calls civic professionalism. This expounds the ultimate professional ideal as the nurturing of the whole child in preparation for critical citizenship and participation in democratic society (ibid.). Arguably, democratic professionalism, and especially an emphasis on care, is more compatible with professional cultures of teaching that are hospitable to women. The affective domain, or caring about children, has been found to be fundamental to teacher professional identity (Barber 2002). Many researchers and reformers have ignored the historical and cultural interweaving of gender and teaching. Many of those who focus on teacher professionalism disregard key barriers to and possibilities for the reframing of the position and role of the teacher in society (Smulyan 2004b). The concept of a profession, like the concept of a career, has been created by and applies to jobs and career paths that were, from their inception, male dominated. Attempts to professionalise teaching may stumble on the lack of acknowledgement of the role of women in shaping and carrying out their work in schools (ibid.). However, what is needed now, it is argued, is a new definition of professionalism (Hey and Bradford 2004).

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Has teaching (ever) enjoyed high status in society? The status of teaching as a profession remains highly contested in many countries and there is variability in the findings. The majority of teachers in a recent European survey said that the status of their profession was average, along with that of engineering, nursing and the public service (Eurydice 2004). In some countries, teachers ranked their profession as one of the least prestigious and attractive and compared their occupation to that of unskilled workers (ibid.) although this is not necessarily linked to the level of feminisation. Historically, the proportion of males in primary/elementary teaching has been higher in some European countries such as Ireland than in the United Kingdom or in the United States. However, one has to go back to 1874 to find an equal proportion of men and women in the profession in Ireland (Akenson 1970, 354) for example. By 2005 the proportions of male primary teachers in the UK and Ireland were 18 and 16% respectively, whereas the proportion of male primary/elementary teachers in the US was lower at 11% (UNESCO 2008). Other examples of variation abound. For example, it has been suggested that in England and France in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, high levels of feminisation were due to, and fed into, low esteem for teaching as a profession (Trouv-Finding 2006). Fischmans analysis of the highly feminised teaching profession in Argentina suggests that the political, social, cultural, economic and institutional dynamics of the teaching profession, including historically poor working conditions, low salaries and stereotypes, have contributed to the emergence of mixed and complex social representations of teaching that have framed it as a feminine profession with relatively low status (Fischman 2007). Basten (1997) reports that in the Soviet era of Eastern Europe, both the prestige and the monetary rewards of medical doctors decreased as they became more feminised. In contemporary China assertions have been made that the feminisation of teaching is also one of the major underlying causes of its low social status (Fu 2000). On the other hand, while indicating that the attractiveness of teaching as a profession as indicated by relative salaries and social status has declined substantially in some countries in recent years, an OECD study of teaching in 25 countries points out that teachers seem to perceive that their job has lower status than wider public surveys would indicate (OECD 2005, 82). This study further points out that in countries where teaching has high social status such as Finland, Ireland and Korea there is strong competition for entry into teacher education (ibid., 102). As illustrated earlier in this paper, all three countries have highly feminised primary teaching forces (although the Korean is somewhat less so than the Irish or Finnish). The evidence thus suggests that the relatively high status and attractiveness of teaching in all three countries has not necessarily been diminished by feminisation. Research in many countries has suggested that the more feminised any occupation is, the more likely it is to be poorly paid (OConnor 1998, 198). In the four countries where proportionately more males than females are in upper secondary teaching (Korea, Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands), teachers pay as a ratio of salary to GDP per capita after 15 years of experience is somewhat better than that in most (though not all) other OECD countries (OECD 2007, 387). As regards the levels of pay attaching to teaching, while the proportion of women may be a factor, other factors undoubtedly play a part. For example, the strength and relative bargaining power of the teacher unions are a key factor. Traditionally, teacher unions have emphasised professional diversity and the importance of the freedom of the individual teacher in carrying out pedagogical practice in a personal way (Karseth and Nerland 2007). Will enhancing the professional standing of teaching result in changing levels of feminisation? With regard to enhancing the professional status of teachers there are some signs that this may occur as a result of aspects of European policy. There is an awareness at European level

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that enhancing the attractiveness of teaching is essential (Eurydice 2004). The Lisbon Agreement (2000) set out to make Europe the most competitive, digital, knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010. It made specific mention of teachers and aimed to use community programmes to foster their mobility, to remove obstacles to mobility, to bring about greater transparency in the recognition of qualifications, and to attract high quality teachers (paragraph 26). Teaching and teacher education have become key elements in delivering these European aims. The Bologna Declaration (1999) also aimed to increase competitiveness (specifically in higher education) but contained more overt and developed statements on the role of the knowledge society in fostering human growth, European citizenship and the development and strengthening of stable, peaceful and democratic societies. The implementation of the Bologna Declaration in European higher education systems has had a significant impact on initial education and continuing professional development of teachers and many reforms have been instituted throughout Europe in order to become Bologna-compliant. In many countries these have been accompanied by the tighter incorporation of teacher education into the university system. The notion that universities have a key role to play not only in the pre-service and in-career education of teachers but in enhancing professionalism is not confined to Europe. In Australia, it has been argued that successful teacher education for the twenty-first century demands full professionalisation through university-based programmes that incorporate the contextual advantages of school-based teacher education without the reproductive disadvantages of apprenticeship models (Lovat and McLeod 2006). Highly politicised debates on professionalism in teaching in the United States have focused more on teacher education than on feminisation particularly around concerns about policy pressures to deregulate the profession (i.e. to encourage untrained individuals to work as teachers in schools) and have led to an emphasis by many teacher educators on the importance of university education in the maintenance of professionalism (Cochran-Smith 2006; Darling-Hammond 2000a, 2000b, 2006a, 2006b; Schalock, Schalock, and Ayres 2006; Zeichner 2006). Research in the UK and in Finland illustrates very different approaches to professionalism. Policy-makers conceptions of teacher professionalism currently differ markedly in England and Finland. In England they are shaped by agendas associated with the drive to raise standards and commercialized professionalism whilst in Finland they are influenced by notions of teacher empowerment (Webb et al. 2004). The approach in Finland has been fostered by Finnish policymakers and teacher educators. Preparing teachers for a research-based professionalism has been the central mission of teacher education there since the mid-1970s (Westbury et al. 2005) with the goal of developing teachers who have the capacity to use research and research-derived competencies in their ongoing teaching and decision-making (ibid.). Comparative work on England and Canada has emphasised the need for teacher educators to retain a commitment to maintaining and developing professionalism (Hall and Schulz 2003). In the United States, the public recognition of teaching as a profession and developing professional teachers has also been set forth as a possible solution to addressing on-the-job stress and teacher empowerment (Pearson and Moomaw 2005). Other moves towards the enhancement of professionalism have involved the establishment of teaching councils as professional regulatory bodies in a number of countries. In spite of the increased professional enhancement resulting from recent European policy statements on teaching, from the fact that teaching is almost an entirely graduate profession throughout most Western countries, and from the establishment of professional regulatory bodies in a number of countries, there is no evidence that this has resulted in any changes in the level of feminisation of the profession, nor indeed is there evidence that the existing levels of feminisation have affected these policy changes for good or ill.

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If women in an occupation reduce its status, what does this reveal about society? If the feminisation of teaching or other professions results in reduced status or pay (and there is some evidence that this is the case) what does this tell us about the wider society? Research into the social construction of masculinity suggests that it may be more accurate and useful to conceptualise the issue in terms of a number of ideal types, or categories, of masculine identity. A larger analysis of gender and teaching undertaken by this author and colleagues (Drudy et al. 2005) suggests that, in Western societies, the earliest stages of the formation of masculine identity involve processes which result in the association of a masculine identity with patterns of behaviour that are not feminine. For some men, such processes may also involve the denigration of the feminine. The research also indicates that, while in most societies there is a hegemonic, or socially dominant, form of masculinity, this may also co-exist with other definitions and forms of masculinity. It is also suggested that, in rapidly changing post-modern societies, schools and educational institutions are places where gender identities, but especially masculine identities, are constantly being negotiated, tested and constructed. It is in this situation, and within the context of a highly feminised teaching profession, that male and female educational and occupational choices are being made. It would appear that, in patriarchal societies, as the proportion of women in an occupation increases, entry to occupations which are highly feminised, or which are in the process of becoming so, is an increasingly difficult choice for men (ibid.). This indicates a much wider problem with regard to womens status, power and position in society. Griffiths argues that feminisation, in the sense of a high proportion of women in teaching, is womens problem rather than societys. Society is fortunate that women go on working in essential jobs for less pay, worse conditions, and lower status than their brothers. However, the situation is not good for the women nor for any men who work alongside them, as opposed to being swiftly promoted over them (Griffiths 2006). If as the OECD (2005, 59) point out, many countries are concerned at the increasing feminisation of teaching and perceive that a decline in male teacher numbers signals teachings more general loss of appeal as a career, then it clearly indicates that women themselves still have significantly lower levels of status in those societies. Conclusions Teaching is a highly feminised profession in Western societies and is likely to remain so. Some questions were explored in this paper on the impact of feminisation. While there is a gender gap in performance in public examinations in many countries, there is little support in the research for any contention that boys performance would necessarily improve with male teachers. In addition, evidence from several countries has raised serious questions about the validity of the male role model thesis. Rather, research to date suggests that the policy direction should be towards attracting high quality people into the profession irrespective of whether male or female. There are limited robust data on the relative levels of competence of male and female teachers. Such evidence as there is on competence, as indicated by awards at point of entry to the profession, suggests a higher level of performance by women. In spite of the difficulties of defining what is meant by the term profession, there is some support for the contention that high levels of feminisation can result in lower professional status for an occupation, and teaching is no exception to this. Nevertheless, gender balance in teaching remains an important equality issue. Gender needs to be embedded in policy thinking on teaching and teacher education. Discourses on teaching are increasingly drawn from the perspective of performativity, arguably more compatible with a culture of hegemonic masculinity than with a culture of femininity (Haywood, Popoviciu, and Mac an Ghaill 2005). If it is the case that numerical dominance of women in teaching, or any other profession, is associated with a decline in the status of that profession, this raises fundamental questions about

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the role and position of women in society. In particular, questions concerning the level of social and economic equality between men and women, and parity of esteem, arise. These go well beyond consideration of an individual occupation such as teaching. A correlation between masculinity and authority seems to be obvious and unquestioned in the social order of gender and in the gender regimes of schools and thus forms an implicit discourse of subordination of women (Gannerud 2001). As Acker and Dillabough suggest, the particular form of any professional narrative reflects both a question of existing and historical power relations and prevailing levels of social change, all of which can be linked to symbolic domination (Acker and Dillabough 2007). However, there is strong evidence emerging from a number of countries that the critical issue in policy and educational terms is to attract high calibre candidates, whether female or male, into teaching (Drudy et al. 2005; Smulyan 2004a, 2004b) and to provide them with high quality, theoretically and practically informed, and research-based pre-service and continuing professional education. References
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