In Women and the Teaching Profession, I read that pupils identify more easily with teachers of the same gender. This is true especially among young girls. Also, I read that male teachers have an important part to play in encouraging positive attitudes to study among young boys! By contrast, female teachers often have better communication skills than male teachers. I just wanted to learn about your opinions as most of you belong to different parts of the world.

Thanks Spinney for your honest reply. So it all depends on the teacher �s personality, be it strong or weak, regardless of the gender! This is quite interesting, and I do agree with you. But the setting in which I teach is different. Male teachers teach boys and female teachers teach girls.

Having said that, an excellent strategy that some male teachers can adopt, and was expounded to me by a male colleague, is �top dog.� �They are the pack and I am the leader.� I work in a boys� school and I am �favourite aunt�. ;-)))