UNITED STATES – Boys are falling behind in school. They are less likely than girls to be ready for kindergarten. They read at lower levels and graduate from high school at lower rates.

This gender gap in education has significantly widened just in the last generation.

One group is uniquely positioned to help put boys on the right track in their first year of formal schooling – men who teach kindergarten. Yet, only about 3 per cent of kindergarten teachers in the United States are men.

Many studies show that older boys benefit from having male teachers. There has not been as much research on the youngest students and their teachers, in large part because there are so few male teachers in early education to begin with.

Still, it stands to reason that men who teach kindergarten can make a difference for boys, said Stanford University’s Professor Thomas Dee, who has for decades researched the effect of teacher demographics on students.

A dozen men with the job were interviewed about being a rarity in their field. The teachers spoke about drawing on their experiences in school to address the challenges boys face today.

“They come in and you can already see – behaviourally, academically – they’re behind the girls,” said Mr Kevin Clifford, a 58-year-old kindergarten teacher in Yonkers, New York. “Kindergarten is the basics, it’s the building blocks, so I want to be there for that.”

Kindergarten enrolment has declined since the Covid-19 pandemic, and enrolment is lower among low-income families. But nearly nine in 10 children in the US attend kindergarten, which experts say is a crucial starting point for academic success.

Most children thrive with the female teachers who are the core of the profession, in kindergarten and beyond. But diversity in the profession may be increasingly important, especially for boys at earlier ages, researchers said.

Kindergarten is becoming more academic, gender gaps are opening earlier and more of the professionals in children’s lives are women, said author Richard Reeves, who wrote Of Boys And Men: Why The Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, And What to Do About It (2022).

For boys who struggle in school, the need for more male teachers in elementary school is urgent, he said. “I really worry that the very idea of educational success is becoming increasingly female-coded.”

If boys are “seeing education as not for them”, Reeves said, “that’s the risk.”

First role models

One way that male teachers make a difference is by relating to boys, such as presenting material in a way that is more relevant to them or not succumbing to stereotypes, such as those about boys’ misbehaviour or achievement in reading.

Mr Clifford said that when he was disruptive in class as a young pupil, it was not because he did not understand.

“My behaviour was bad because I was bored,” he said. “So I can personally relate to what the boys go through.”

There is also a role-model effect. Sometimes, a teacher is the first man with a major presence in boys’ lives, as one in five children grow up without a father at home.

Mr Dwayne Taylor, a 47-year-old kindergarten teacher in Frontenac, Kansas, was drawn to the job in part because he was raised by a single mother, without male role models. “I wanted to be that for the pupils,” he said.

Expanding gender roles

Nearly all the men said part of their role as male teachers was to show pupils, especially boys, a different model of masculinity to prepare them for a world in which gender roles are less defined.

“We learn how to cook. We show respect for the custodial staff,” Mr Taylor said. “There are no boy jobs and girl jobs. If there is a mess, we clean it up.”

Many of the men said that when they were growing up, their fathers were the disciplinarians and their mothers were the nurturers. While teaching kindergarten, they have had to take on a different role.

Mr Daniel Saenz, 38, served as an army lieutenant before teaching kindergarten in Midlothian, Texas. Of his disciplinary style, he said: “Simply giving them a look or raising my voice to a certain tone, they quickly understand that this authority figure is not messing around.”

But he has also learnt to soften his approach. His teaching mentors, he said, “taught me what it is to really be a teacher, and that was to show empathy, to give a hug to students, remind them there is someone there for you”.

Overcoming a stigma

There are many reasons that more men do not teach kindergarten. A big one is stigma, the teachers said.

“It’s looked down upon for a man to want to spend his whole day with children,” said Mr Riley Lyons, 44, who teaches in Atlanta.

Another obstacle, they said, is the pay. The median salary for the job, which requires a college degree and a teaching licence, is US$64,000 (S$86,500) – lower than comparable jobs requiring a degree.

Many states have teacher shortages, and researchers say men would benefit from pursuing careers in fast-growing caregiving occupations such as teaching. Yet, there has been no major national push for recruiting more men into early education.

Kindergarten to Primary 3 “is so formative in a young person’s life that it should be more of the focus” in recruiting male teachers, said Mr Colin Sharkey, executive director of the Association of American Educators. “It’s like unlocking a new market of potential educators.”

The male kindergarten teachers said that from their perspective, the fulfillment of the job generally outweighed the negatives.

“I love that they’re just so sweet still and so curious, constantly asking questions, wanting to know more,” Mr Lyons said.

Mr Saenz said he left his post-army job in supply-chain logistics because he realised he wanted to help people instead.

“I have students come in knowing no letters, no sounds, no numbers, and now they’re writing complete sentences,” he said. “This is something they’re going to take with them the rest of their life. That right there is the greatest impact.” NYTIMES