Does the gender of a teacher really matter? 7 - 8-year-olds' accounts of their interactions with their teachers

In recent years, policy makers in England, Australia and other countries have called for measures to increase male recruitment to the teaching profession, particularly to the primary sector. The policy of targeted recruitment is predicated upon a number of unexamined assumptions about the benefits of matching teachers and pupils by gender.

Utilizing data from interviews from over 300 7- to 8-year-olds attending primary schools in the northeast and southeast of England, the paper sets out to scrutinize these claims.

The findings revealed that the gender of teachers had little apparent effect on the academic motivation and engagement of either boys or girls. For the majority of the children, the gender of the teacher was largely immaterial. They valued teachers, whether men or women, who were consistent and even-handed and supportive of them as learners.