KEY POINTS:
Boys don't care if their teacher is a man or a woman, according to research that throws doubt on the push to increase the number of male teachers.
Michael Irwin, a Massey University senior lecturer in education, interviewed 200 male high-school students and tested 350 pupils for motivation as part of his PhD research.
Preliminary findings showed the boys had no preference on whether they were taught by a male or a female.
Boys' education is under scrutiny in a bid to turn around their higher drop-out rates and a poorer academic record.
Mr Irwin found boys wanted good teachers they could relate to, which meant teachers who showed an interest, answered questions, provided individual help and were willing to have fun.
"They might like maths one year, and it's because of the teacher. The next year, they'll hate maths, and it's because of the teacher," he said.
"Not once did the boys say, 'We want male teachers more than we want female teachers'."
However, having a balance of male and female teachers was important as the older men acted as role models in boys' emotional and social development, said Mr Irwin.
Paul Baker, rector of Waitaki Boys High School in Oamaru and a member of the ministerial reference group developing guidelines on boys' education, said the sex of teachers was "very relevant" for a small number of at-risk students.
He said the students tended to be aged 11 to 14, often in a single-parent home with their mother, and were "not particularly welcoming of female authority".
It was less important when boys got older.
But Dr Baker said it was not an anti-female-teacher argument and the teaching population ideally should reflect the wider population in terms of sex and ethnicity.
Just 28 per cent of teachers in New Zealand are male, and female teacher trainees far outnumber their male counterparts.
John Langley, the University of Auckland's education dean, said the lack of male teachers led to an imbalance in schools.
"I certainly wouldn't support the notion that if someone wears trousers, they have to be wheeled up the front of the classroom," said Dr Langley.
"What we have to try to do is attract good male students into teacher education."
First-year bachelor of education student Kaine Henderson, 33, said the shortage was part of his motivation to retrain.
"All the schools I've been in, there's been a much higher ratio of women to men and at university it's the same," said Mr Henderson. "It's quite scary."
Mr Irwin said his research showed boys valued schooling but rebelled if they didn't like the teaching.
When asked why girls were doing better, boys said girls worked harder, were not as easily distracted and had higher expectations put on them.
"Boys are getting a message that they are not supposed to perform as well as girls."
Mr Irwin, due to present the findings in London next month, said close friends had an important role in boys' education.
That included keeping them at school in later years.
