When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Already a subscriber? Log in .

You've reached your limit of one free article.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime .

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Exclusive International news coverage

Ad-free experience NEW

Weekly digital Magazine NEW

9 daily & weekly Newsletters

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Free trial

30-days free access, then $2.90
per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch
InterNations
Germany

Does The Gender Of A Teacher Matter?

The conventional wisdom says a male teacher shortage is bad for society, and the surplus of women in education might work against boys. A new study confronts the myths.

A kindergarten teacher in Xiahogan China
A kindergarten teacher in Xiahogan China
Fanny Jiménez

BERLIN — The conventional wisdom is that we desperately need more male teachers. After all, according to a report on the gender of teachers in German schools, on average 85% of them are women.

Given that the report is now 10 years old, it's likely that the current number is even higher, because the representation of women in teaching has been rising steadily over the last century. In 1960, about 46% of elementary school teachers were women, but by 1990 they represented 67% of all German teachers. A similar trend has been tracked in other Western countries

Some education experts consider this so-called "feminization" of the teaching profession a real concern. They believe boys might perform better were they to have more male teachers.

When it comes to student performance, as a matter of fact, studies show that girls have overtaken boys. They tend to start school earlier, are less likely to have to repeat classes, and attend high school longer than boys.

Now, whether this is directly related to the domination of female teachers is unclear. There are indeed various studies trying to answer that question, but to date, they contradict one another.

Marcel Helbig, from Berlin's Social Science Research Center, has recently published an overview study that includes data from 42 surveys and 2.4 million pupils from 41 countries. His finding is that it makes absolutely no difference in student performance whether the boys have female or male teachers.

Girls don't particularly benefit from female teachers, and the same is true for boys from male teachers, he says. The teacher's gender simply doesn't matter at all, Helbig concludes.

"Therefore, there is no empirical basis for political programs claiming to resolve boys' education crisis with more male teachers," Helbig says. In fact, he says, girls have always performed better in the classroom. His investigation of 369 studies confirmed that between 1914 and 2011, there were no major changes in student performance between boys and girls.

He explains the phenomenon by saying the two genders have different kinds of motivation and commitment levels. Girls tend to be more disciplined and hardworking, which results in better grades.

"Self-discipline and the willingness to work hard in order to get good grades and are not part of men's typical gender concepts," Helbig says.

If and how the school plays a key role in this behavior remains an open question for the scientist. Maybe boys do need male teachers: not to settle any injustices, but as role models.

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Future

AI And War: Inside The Pentagon's $1.8 Billion Bet On Artificial Intelligence

Putting the latest AI breakthroughs at the service of national security raises major practical and ethical questions for the Pentagon.

Photo of a drone on the tarmac during a military exercise near Vícenice, in the Czech Republic

Drone on the tarmac during a military exercise near Vícenice, in the Czech Republic

Sarah Scoles

Number 4 Hamilton Place is a be-columned building in central London, home to the Royal Aeronautical Society and four floors of event space. In May, the early 20th-century Edwardian townhouse hosted a decidedly more modern meeting: Defense officials, contractors, and academics from around the world gathered to discuss the future of military air and space technology.

Things soon went awry. At that conference, Tucker Hamilton, chief of AI test and operations for the United States Air Force, seemed to describe a disturbing simulation in which an AI-enabled drone had been tasked with taking down missile sites. But when a human operator started interfering with that objective, he said, the drone killed its operator, and cut the communications system.

Keep reading...Show less

The latest