Steve Brine stressed the importance of men as well as women teaching in primary schools during a Commons debate today.
The Winchester & Chandler's Ford MP, whose daughter Emily is in the early stages of primary school, spoke about the value of male teachers which have traditionally been under-represented in the sector. He was making his point to Education Secretary, Michael Gove, during a Commons statement on England's poor showing in the current international league table of schools' performance in maths, reading and science.
Steve said: "I have always believed it is important children at all ages of their schooling have male as well as female influences and this is especially important where boys do not have a positive male figure at home. I wanted to ask the Secretary of State whether he recognises this point and his response was every bit as positive as I had hoped."
Official figures show positive signs in this area as there has been an increase in the number of men training to be primary school teachers. In 2009/10 sixteen percent of trainees were men, for 2013/14 twenty-one percent are men.
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