Hi Albert,

In the place where I live  women take the leading role as teachers, however, men are the ones who hold positions such as principals, I believe that culture and systems of beliefs have a lot to do with the querie you have just started. Personally, I do not believe that genre makes a teacher. it is in your genes or in learned behaviour or in  passion  or in a deep desire that most people feel: Most people at all walks of life, feel the need to be a teacher or  to experience the fantasy of being one. I once read this:  " teaching is the proffession that  creates all others", may be, just maybe, this is the reason why being a teacher, male or female or... keeps the proffession alive, teaching  is not  gender- dependant it is passion- dependant.

Hi,

I find myself agreeing with most of what Pilar says, and find myself nodding when she talks about culture etc. Similarly, in my context, teachers in schools tend to be female, but this a reflection on society here more than anything else, I think.

Just to take Pilar's point a step further, do you think certain people, maybe certain personality types, make better teacher trainers? (And, by implication of that, are there people who try to become teacher trainers but just aren't suited to it?)

Cheers,

Nick

Hello to all 

 I d like to add my five cents by quoting dr Helen Fisher in her book The First Sex. 

She starts the chapter named The Teachers with the old adage: "  Educate  a man and you educate an individual , educate a woman and you educate a family. Women do like to teach. In 1996, 98% of all prekindergarten and kindergarten teachers in the USA ere women, as were 94% of teachers' aides, 84% of special educatin teachers, 84% of elementary shool teachers, 57 % of secondary school teachers, 68% of vocational and educational counselors and 45% percent of college and university teachers. Not many women have reached the highest administrative echelons of the education system. The vast majority of deans, chancellorsand college and university presidents are still men. Given men's greater preoccupation with rank, this is not surprising. In the US women dominate the direct day to day education of the growing mind. It seems that even more women wil be teaching in coming decades"

IMHO, this doesn't go to say that women are better educators but I guess that they just tend to take up certain professions more often than some others due to stereotypes in roles or for practical reasons, I guess 

Natasha 

Nick 

 yes, I ve seen quite a few very arty, creative people ending up in rather dry uncreative passion-less jobs but it was their own decision and giving way to their mental comfort zones.

 Natasha 

Dear all,

I asked my students not so long ago whether they liked female teachers more than male teachers and most of them said it was nothing to do with the sex: it depended on the way of teaching, not on whether they were male or female.

I think it is a subjective thing: and it leads to the next question - what is a good teacher / educator?

Christien

Dear Christien

Many thanks for your views on the topic.

I have a few questions.

- At which level do you teach English?  (primary/secondary/tertiary)

- How many students were in your class? 

- How many male and female students?

I would like to read your response to these questions.

Albert

Hi Nick!

I am Venezuelan and I have a degree in modern languages. I am not a teacher trainer but I think I have some ideas I could share with you in relation to your question. I personally think that becoming a teacher trainer is a matter of attitude. It does not depend on your personality, sex or social condition. As far as I remember I have had good teachers from who I really learned many things and I could not say whether they all had an incredible personality or a high level of intelligence. I could not say either if the most of them were women or men, the only thing I remember is the way they talked to the class, the words they told me to cheer me up in difficult situations and their positive attitude during the class sessions. In my opinion, being a teacher is more than knowing many things or having a certain kind of personality; being a good teacher is to know how to help your pupils to be better than you.

Hi Albert,

I teach adult classes (secondary level) - my students are mostly between 18 and 21. I have classes of 25 - 30 students. There are about as much males as females.

Does that answer your questions?

Christien

Dear Christien

Many thanks for your response to my questions.

In India most (above 90 percent) primary school teachers are women.  What about the male-female ratio in schools in your country?

Albert

Hello again!

Well, it is not easy to talk about good teachers, especially if you are just trying to become one of them. I believe that every teacher must have a level of knowledge in a certain topic he is teaching about. However, as teachers, it is not enough to transmit all what we know; it is just part of our job. The real challenge is to give our students all the tools and ways to develop skills that can be used in the future to create their own knowledge. As good teachers, we should teach our students how to fish in stead of give them a fish. I do not know if this answers your question in some way.

Hi Albert.

That's a hard question to answer. In my country women are the ones that form the majority of the teachers in Venezuela. Of course, regarding what Pilar said men are the ones that hold position such as principals and coordinators, but nowadays things are changing. Inside the society more and more women are getting grip in such as positions.  They have had  the tradition along the time to be the ones that teach everyone. I've had  had women as teachers and they had done it well, they have that special delicate touch of sweetness when teaching , but that would be an irresponsibility from my part, since I am a man, not to mention that I have had men as teachers and they have done it good as well.

Vladimir