The Education Secretary is to call for more men to become teachers, as she said boys’ behaviour and their influences are “a defining issue of our time”.
Bridget Phillipson, in a speech in London on Thursday, will say she wants more men in the classroom “teaching, guiding, leading” boys.
Echoing a similar sentiment from Sir Gareth Southgate last month, Ms Phillipson is expected to warn of the “toxic online influences” and the need to “raise a generation of boys with the strength to reject that hatred”.
She will speak at Dame Rachel de Souza’s inaugural Festival Of Childhood, where the Children’s Commissioner will warn about young people increasingly turning to technology.
Dame Rachel will warn there is a risk of inaction and apathy among adults and suggests the internet and artificial intelligence such as Chat GPT could end up filling these gaps for children.
The comments come amid a national conversation about the internet and children, partly prompted by recent Netflix drama Adolescence, and just weeks after ex-England manager Sir Gareth said many young men end up “searching for direction” and fill the void with a “new kind of role model who do not have their best interest at heart”.
Ms Phillipson is expected to say: “It’s clear the behaviour of boys, their influences, and the young men they become, is a defining issue of our time.
“We need to raise a generation of boys with the strength to reject that hatred – curiosity, compassion, kindness, resilience, hope, respect.”
Referring to toxic online influences being “on the rise”, she will say “our boys need strong, positive male role models to look up to”.
She will add their must be such role models both at home and at school.
She will say: “Schools can’t solve these problems alone, and responsibility starts at home with parents.
“But only one in four of the teachers in our schools are men. Just one in seven in nursery and primary. One in 33 in early years.
“And since 2010 the number of teachers in our schools has increased by 28,000 – but just 533 of those are men. That’s extraordinary.
“So I want more male teachers – teaching, guiding, leading the boys in their classrooms. And of course I want more teachers across the board, as part of our Plan for Change.”
Dame Rachel is expected to say some of the “foundations of childhood are cracking” leading to a “crisis developing in childhood”.
Calling on adults to listen to and engage with children on decisions about their lives, she will add: “If we want children to experience the vivid technicolor of life, the joy of childhood, the innocence of youth, we have to prove that we will respond more quickly to them than Chat GPT.”
More than half (55%) of schools and colleges surveyed in England by the commissioner’s office said they were concerned about online safety.
The survey of around 19,000 schools and colleges, which her office said represents almost 90% of those in England, also suggested a major concern (for 71% of respondents) is access to children and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS), while 46% were worried about the impact of poverty.
On Thursday, Dame Rachel is also expected to set out her focus areas for the next 12 months, including access to children’s mental health services, children’s trust in the police, harms cause by “deepfake” technology, and the use of mobile phone policies in schools.
