Dads in classrooms: fathers studying to be primary school teachers in New Zealand

In the largely female-dominated profession of primary school teaching, this project investigates how some males training to be teachers perceive their experiences in light of widening the participation of men in teaching. This qualitative study asked a group of fathers, enrolled in pre-service teacher education, to share their particular experiences of why they chose to become teachers and the factors they thought were inhibiting and/or aiding their training. These included the men's strong motivation, based on informed understandings of the work, to become primary school teachers; the impact this decision had on the lives of their children, partners and extended families; the particular issues the men faced as they tried to combine the dual roles of fathers and student-teachers; and their perceptions of what pre-service teacher education providers can do to assist men (and fathers in particular) who choose to pursue a teaching qualification.