Recent trends of student teacher intake have shown that the number of male commencing students has dropped to a low 15% of overall intake. This alarming statistic lead Central Queensland University to instigate a new program called MATES or Male Teacher Education Support.

Sponsored by a grant of $30,000 from Education Queensland, the local program aims to match male student teachers with mentoring teachers in schools, allowing students far more time in the classroom and observe male teachers at work.

In a second phase of the program, students and recently graduated student teachers will be going out to high schools to encourage more students into the profession.

CQU Bundaberg lecturer and joint coordinator Alan Bowmaker said, “We’re really worried about the dropping numbers of male students entering teaching. Even after these students have started there’s no guarantee that they will complete their degree.” Up to 30 male students from across the three years of the Bachelor of Learning Management program will be participating in MATES. At this stage, 25 teachers have offered to act as mentors including a strong commitment of five teachers from the Rockhampton Diocese of Catholic Education who are keen to support the program.

On Friday 16 May, the mentor teachers will be participating in a workshop at Coral Cove Conference Centre. The workshop will include training in mentoring and role-play including effective communication and establishing priorities.

After Friday, coordinators Alan Bowmaker and Steve Smith will be able to match mentors with participating students to start their classroom sessions.

“We need to know how to attract more males into the industry and ultimately convert these into teachers. We hope that MATES will be the first step in alleviating this problem,” added Mr Bowmaker.