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Allegations
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The climate of panic around child safety means the sad
reality for male teachers is to safeguard themselves against false
accusations. Sophie Neville reports. When Porirua primary school teacher Michael Stewart's pupils
fall over in the playground, he has to find a female teacher to pick them up.
He mustn't be alone
with a child. If one tries to hold his hand, he gently tells them not to.
When a pupil is upset, he makes sure other people are around before giving
them a hug. Though he thinks the
measures are ridiculous, "keeping yourself safe" is a reality for a
teacher today, he says. Mr Stewart teaches
eight and nine-year-olds at "I think as a male
teacher you are a lot more aware of what other people might think is
happening." He has deliberately
involved his wife at the school and always wears his wedding ring. Ensuring
children and their parents trust him makes him feel less vulnerable to
"every teacher's worst nightmare" – an allegation of sexual abuse. Mr Stewart kept a close
eye on the trial of Kapiti teacher Michael Neville, who was acquitted of
indecent assault charges involving four pupils in Palmerston District Court
last week. Two girls had accused
the teacher of touching their genitals, and two others accused him of
touching their bottom, chest or stomach. After an eight-day trial he was
found not guilty on all charges. Some are hailing the
verdict as a victory for male teachers, but others say the case will have
frightened men away from the profession, which is already facing a dearth of
men. Life for male teachers
was becoming increasingly difficult because of "a moral panic"
gripping schools, "There is this
real fear and anxiety that the teacher is bad and needs to be watched. It's
very sad." Of the country's 25,000
primary school teachers, fewer than 5000 are male. Of those, about 1200 are
principals. In 1970 almost 40 per cent of the country's primary teachers were
male. The primary teachers'
union, the New Zealand Educational Institute, had created a culture of fear
and fuelled it by issuing a code of conduct to its teachers, Dr Farquhar said. The code said teachers
should avoid being alone with a child and keep physical contact to a minimum.
Visibility was important at schools and mirrors could be installed above
doors. Doors should have glass panels. The guidelines were
"ridiculous" and gave children unhealthy ideas about caring and
being cared for, Dr Farquhar said. "Being
caring and having physical contact with children is absolutely necessary and
a vital part of their job." TEACHER nervousness
about being falsely accused of something was getting in the way of doing
their job. "For a child who is upset, sometimes a cuddle can solve the issue
and you can get on with teaching. "If we stopped
panicking, I'm sure more men would be entering the profession." NZEI president Colin Tarr said the code was vital to keeping staff and
students safe from false allegations. Since it was introduced in the late
1990s, vexatious or unfounded complaints had decreased significantly. He agreed the
guidelines were "cautious" but it was important to safeguard against
a small minority of people who were prone to making false allegations. "NZEI did not
create the climate of panic around child safety. What we are doing is
responding to it. Our job is to ensure our staff are
safe." The guidelines did not
mean teachers were "cold and distant". They could still have
"warm, respectful and responsive" relationships with students, he
said. Mr Neville's case would
certainly not help the profession to attract more male teachers, Mr Tarr said, but he didn't think it would cause existing
ones to leave. Though it would be good
to have a workforce more representative of the community, the low proportion
of men to women in the primary sector was nothing new, he said. Pay parity with
secondary school teaching, achieved in the late 90s, had encouraged more men
to enter teaching, and the results of this would be seen in the next few
years. Having a "more diverse" teaching staff would be preferable. "We would like to
have more men in teaching, but then we'd love to have more Maori teachers
too." Educational consultant
Ian Livingstone said the lack of male teachers was a concern for "If there were
more men in primary education, it would help boys achieve more highly. They
would have more models or reference points to broaden their opinions and more
role models in front of them." Men were staying out of
primary teaching primarily because of the low status of the job, including
low pay and poor conditions. But the ever-present risk of being accused of
sexual abuse was a "powerful disincentive to teach", Mr Livingstone
said. "But men teachers
are not hopelessly vulnerable. They should hang in there and encourage more
people to take on a more rewarding and valuable profession. They do a very
important job." |
