Groups in Brighton & Hove have been praised for encouraging more men into schools according to a report in the Brighton Argus.

They City of Brighton & Hove has a higher than average proportion of men working in primary schools according to a report on male teachers by the group “realmanswork” which highlighted the work of The Men’s Network and A Few Good Men.

With men accounting for less than 1 in 6 primary school teachers and less than 5% of pre-school workers locally being male, there is a huge under-representation of men and male role models in the school system.

The public sector has a commitment to ensure its workforce reflects the diversity of the communities it services – and as 50% of pupils are male, the current gender imbalance in the workforce does not reflect this with 1 in 4 primary school teachers nationally having no male teachers.

One way to address this imbalance is to get more male non-teaching staff, volunteers and fathers/family men into schools. The majority of inclusion mentors working in local schools, for example, are female although the majority of pupils they serve are boys.

One area when great inroads have been made locally is in the engagement of dads in schools, a drive which has been led by Alistair Mayor of SuperDads who runs dads’ groups in schools and helps sustainable dads groups to form within school communities.

Some success stories include Whitehawk Superdads and the Hertford Juniors Dads’ Choir which made its first public performance this Easter.

Both the Whitehawk Superdads and A Few Good Men project benefitted from the 2011 Community Leaders Programme run by The Men’s Network.