Blake Crayton-Brown

Arakura School's male teachers. From left, reliever Diego Serpa, teacher Al Ingham, reading recovery teacher Mark Lye and principal Mark Kibblewhite.

Mark Lye had a wide grin on his face. He was acutely aware he was becoming a bit of a modern relic.

Lye works at Wainuiomata's Arakura School and is one of New Zealand's few male reading recovery teachers.

The job sees Lye working one-on-one with students aged six and seven who are underachieving in reading.

It's not uncommon for schools to have such a teacher. But it is, Lye admits, fairly unusual for that person to be a bloke.

"I'm about as rare as a moa," Lye said.

"I'm just about extinct."

FROM THE ARCHIVES:
* Efforts to get more male teachers failing
* A threatened species: the male teacher
* Stigma limiting male teacher numbers
* Male teacher shortage down to 'gender bias'

But Lye, a former Air Force education officer, said he had no regrets about getting into the role.

"I really enjoy working with children.

"It's great seeing their eyes light up when something clicks."

Lye said he first trained as a teacher in the 1970s before joining the Air Force.

Back then, a big advantage was that young men and women were paid to train as teachers.

"We didn't have to get any of those terrible student loans.

"I take my hat off to young people today who are prepared to make that commitment despite the costs."

When Lye left the classroom for the military, there were a wide range of other blokey options for male teachers - in the military, police and corrections.

There weren't such options these days.

But Lye said regardless of gender, a good teacher was just that.

"If you are a good teacher, you will do a good job."

In 2013, just 16.5 per cent of New Zealand's primary school teachers were men.

That means since 2004 there has been an 8.3 per cent drop in the proportion of male teachers working at primary level.

Arakura School's only full-time male teacher, Al Ingham, said he had been in the minority since training as a teacher.

Ingham, who teaches a class of year three and four pupils, said of his teaching cohort at Victoria University, only seven were male out of 50 students.

And of those, only two men ended up in primary schools.

"It gives you a picture of how many come through and how many end up in primary schools," Ingham said.

Ingham said he worked as a reliever before getting his first full-time teaching position.

During that time he taught all different age groups, but quickly found teaching new-entrants wasn't for him.

"I got put in a new entrants class and by morning tea I went back to the head teacher and asked not to be put in there again."

"I definitely enjoy teaching the older ones who are a bit more independent - you can crack some jokes and have some humour."

"My philosophy is if they can write their name and tie their shoelaces, I'm going to have a good year."

Ingham said he didn't cop much flak from his friends when they found out he wanted to teach at a primary school.

"A lot of friends were like 'Ok, that's cool'.

"I didn't get a lot of stick for it."

Ingham said he thought there was a sigma around teaching similar to a stigma around nursing - that it was a job for women.

"It definitely takes a special kind of person."

"I find that teachers really need to be organised and I know that's something some males struggle with it."

Ingham said another factor which could put men off would be the risk of getting into trouble when interacting with students.

"Even as an accusation that can completely destroy your career," Ingham said.

There were a lot of common sense things male teachers could put into place to protect themselves from such accusations, he said.

"One of the first things I do when I get to school in the morning is open up the blinds, so straight away everyone can see in and out of my classroom and so that means I'm safe.

"There are other common sense things as well, like keeping your hands to yourself – don't pull people's ponytails and that sort of thing."

Ingham said kids would go up to female teachers and give them hugs and that was fine, but if someone wanted a hug from him it would be "sort of awkward".

His way of getting around that was to encourage his students to give him a high five instead.

"I try and make mine as high as possible and get their thinking away from a hug."

He could have chosen IT, which was a passion for him.

"I know I could make a boat load of money getting into IT, but actually, coming to school, every single day is different."

He said it was important for pupils, especially boys, to have good male role models in their lives.

"When boys are coming from homes when the closest to a male role model they've got is a younger brother, that's slightly distressing," he said.

"I think there's a bond you get between males that you just don't get between a female teacher and a boy."

"I think it's a bit sad that there seem to be fewer and fewer opportunities for males to be good role models for the younger generation and to show them what respect is, what respect means as a boy."

Ingham said young men who had an interest in becoming a teacher should just bite the bullet and give it a go.

"Schools are good places, they're filled with good people who will get around and support you.

School principal Mark Kibblewhite said he remembered being surrounded by women when he was training to be a teacher in the late 1970s.

"It was about a 1:5 ratio of men and women back then."

He said although he made hiring decisions based on who was the best teacher, irrespective of gender, it would be great to see more men giving teaching a go.

"I just think it would be nice to have more male teachers coming through and replacing those of us who are getting older."

He said a lot of what went on in a classroom had changed significantly since he started out, particularly when it came to technology.

"Does teaching that way appeal to young men? With all the technology aspects?"

Kibblewhite said he thought it would be beneficial if at some stage at primary school, students were in a class with a male teacher.

"It's good to have role models who aren't just sportsmen."

 - Stuff