ABSTRACT

The call for more males to work with children in their formative years remains prevalent in education discourse across the globe. Assertions that these men will positively address boys’ poor behaviour and underachievement, as well as serving as father figures and role models for boys, continue to fuel international policy making and shape media reporting and public opinion. This paper interrogates findings from original research which set out to explore the perceptions of white male primary school educators in England (both teaching and training) in relation to the term ‘role model’. The results, drawn from a rigorous analysis of in-depth focus group interviews, highlight intriguing similarities and differences in professional thinking and suggest the need for a re-imaging of the term. The research has large-scale implications in terms of suggesting important revisions to ‘more-men’ policy making, for work-based professional training and development, and in informing societal discourse.

摘要

要求更多男性在儿童成长时期与他们一起工作的呼吁在全球教育讨论中仍然普遍存在。断言这些人将积极解决男孩的不良行为和成绩不佳的问题，并成为男孩的父亲形象和榜样，继续推动国际政策制定并影响媒体报道和公众舆论。本文询问了原始研究的结果，这些研究旨在探讨英格兰白人男性小学教育工作者（包括教学和培训）对“榜样”一词的看法。结果来自对深度焦点小组访谈的严格分析，突出了专业思维中有趣的异同，并表明需要重新定义该术语。