CRI听力:Experts Suggest Balancing Gender Proportion of Teachers in Fundamental Education

The report indicates that women teachers constitute more than 74 percent of the faculty in primary and secondary schools in Beijing, and the gender disproportion of teachers in cities is slightly greater than it is in rural areas.

Song Jinquan, a middle school teacher in east China's Shandong Province, says his school has a growing number of female teachers. He worries that it will make some of the boy students "girlish."

"Actually, the gender proportion of teachers differs in terms of the subjects they teach. Most of the teachers who teach English and Chinese are female. Anyway, plenty of our boy students are behaving like girls with less confidence and courage. On the contrary, many girl students act like tomboys. So I hope to see more male teachers to join us."

Professor Cheng Fangping, a senior researcher at the School of Education at Renmin University of China, has outlined the reasons why schools hire more women teachers.

"Boys generally think that being a teacher is not so challenging and will not give them a sense of achievement compared to some other positions in the fields of business, finance and IT. What's more, people have a mindset in which they believe that teaching is more favorable for women because it requires more patience and consideration. Last but not least, boys are reluctant to become teachers because of the comparatively lower income teachers earn, which they think will make it more difficult to raise a family."

Some education experts say schoolchildren are inclined to imitate the behavior of their parents and teachers. As the influence on a child's mentality varies between male and female adults, they suggest maintaining a balanced number of schoolteachers of both genders.
 
Yan Wenhua is an education researcher at East China Normal University.

"For example, a male teacher will encourage a student who makes a mistake to correct the error rather than blaming him or her as some female teachers do. He may not take the mistake itself so seriously. The students educated by male teachers will become less fearful of a blunder and more confident to deal with problems than those taught by female teachers. Of course, it is not an absolute example but a phenomenon that prevails."

Professor Cheng Fangping from the Renmin University of China suggests changing the current way of recruiting teachers in basic education to attract more male students to choose teaching as a career. But he said it is not the only solution.

"At present, teacher qualification exams mainly focus on the examinees' knowledge instead of their creativity and practical skills, which are an advantage for boys. Therefore, one's sociability, creativity and skills should be taken more into consideration rather than diplomas, so schools are able to recruit more male teachers."

Cheng also points out that female teachers should be trained on how to educate boys to remain "boyish."

He says they must adjust their teaching methods from cramming knowledge to fostering children's creative minds and building up their physical strength.

For CRI, I am Wei Tong.