Dads as Teachers: Exploring Duality of Roles in the New Zealand Context

Abstract

In the mostly female dominated profession of teaching, this pilot project investigates how a group of males who are both fathers and teachers perceive their experiences as they navigate these dual roles. This qualitative study invited men who were teaching in early childhood, primary and secondary settings in New Zealand, and who were also fathers, to comment on their perceptions of how their dual roles impacted on each other. The themes emerging from their responses included empathy for parents, better understanding of children, benefits for own children, and being viewed as “more real” by their students, as well as being better equipped to understand schools and learning, improved personal and professional qualities, and more time available to spend with family.

Fathers’ Experiences With the Special Education System

“…Of the studies that do include fathers, the focus is on general paternal roles in the family (Berry & Rao, 1997;Ishi-Kuntz, 1994;Yoshida, 2012), and involvement within general and special education (Ingber & Most, 2012;Morgan et al, 2009;White, 2011). Because parent participation is linked with positive student outcomes (Henderson & Mapp, 2002), research about fathers' navigation of the special education system can be informative for research and practice.…”

The Challenges Faced by Male Primary Teachers

“…These variables were age, years of teaching experience, the number of men employed at the school they work at, whether or not teaching was their first career, the gender of the principal at the school they are employed at, and whether or not they were a parent. These variables have been identified in previous research (e.g., Cooney & Bittner, 2001;Moyles & Cavendish, 2001;Smith, 2008;White, 2011) as potential influences on male primary teachers'…”

“…She acknowledged in her 2007 article that predominantly using her own previous studies (e.g., Cushman, 2005a, Cushman 2005b) for this literature review might have limitations; therefore in the following section I incorporated a more robust representation of the national and international literature in this area. This literature review will include more contemporary research findings that might have emerged since Cushman's work was published (e.g., Brownhill, 2014;Burn & Pratt-Adams, 2015;McGrath & Sinclair, 2013;Mistry & Sood, 2015;Skelton, 2011;White, 2011). More specifically, I examined the societal perceptions of male primary teachers before scrutinising how schools perpetuate these gendered beliefs and roles.…”

“…These survey items are presented in alphabetical order in Table 3.2 below. Being discouraged by dissatisfaction with teacher salaries Cushman, 2007;Smith 2008 Dealing with workload issues due to expectations to fulfil 'additional roles' such as coaching sports teams, handling discipline issues, assisting with physical jobs, and attending camps and excursions Mills, Martino, & Lingard, 2004;Sargent, 2000 Discouragement from perceptions of male primary teachers in society/media Burn & Pratt-Adams, 2015;Carrington, 2002 Discouragement from your family about being a primary school teacher Cushman 2005a; Foster & Newman, 2005 Discouragement from your friends about being a primary school teacher Cushman 2005a; Mulholland & Hansen, 2003 Feeling isolated in typically female dominated schools Ashcraft & Sevier, 2006;Cushman, 2005b The potential for your sexuality to be questioned Jones, 2007;Mills, Haase, & Charlton, 2008 Uncertainty about expectations of male teachers as role models Ashley, 2003;White, 2011 Uncertainty surrounding making physical contact with students Cooney & Bittner, 2001;Szwed, 2010 The panel concluded that the survey had sufficient content validity because it adequately measured the intended construct of perceived gender related challenges for male primary teachers. As there was no other existing instrument that has attempted to measure these challenges to use for cross validation, the literature review and the expert panel were relied on to ensure sufficient content validation.…”

“…SCCT uses the term barrier rather than the term challenge. There are numerous national and international studies about the barriers male primary teachers face (e.g., Burn & Pratt-Adams, 2015;Cushman 2007;White, 2011), yet studies also use a variety of other terms such as challenges, issues, influences and difficulties (e.g., Anliak & Beyazkurk, 2008, Foster & Newman, 2005, Trent, 2015. In the context of this study the term barrier is somewhat problematic because it infers something that must be overcome.…”