A quarter of female teachers have been the target of misogyny over the past 12 months (A ‘masculinity crisis’ is brewing in UK schools, union says, 4 April). In truth, this is a crisis that’s been building for years. Annoyingly, we had the chance to deal with this crisis when it was still impending.
Three years ago, headteachers started asking the Department for Education (DfE) for help when Andrew Tate and his mates started being named – and quoted – in classrooms. Its advice? Don’t engage. Educators were told not to discuss Tate’s views in personal, social, health and economic education lessons and the DfE refused to offer any training.
Three years of ignoring the problem later, female teaching staff are feeling “traumatised, demeaned and humiliated” by the ever-increasing misogyny they face when simply trying to better the life chances of those in front of them. If they remain unsupported by our government, those educators will leave the profession and our teacher recruitment crisis will deepen.
For boys in secondary schools, the life of Tate seems exciting. That’s another growing problem for schools and another reason why the DfE should be offering more guidance, because Tate and the manosphere influencers are courting vulnerable boys – lads looking for male role models and a glimpse of a world more glamorous than the cost of living nightmare that awaits them when they’ve done their exams. Our schools are full of those boys.
However, schools are also full of people who can counteract the messages of the manosphere. People who can model what a real adult looks like. People who can demonstrate that strength isn’t defined by lifting, smoking and slapping, but by thinking, listening and helping. Teachers, I think they’re called.
Paul Wade
Grimsby, Lincolnshire
• The behavioural culture in our schools as experienced by female staff is deeply concerning. Evidence indicates that boys are frequently verbally abusing female teachers, but the response is to call for more training for staff.
No teacher can be effective if they have to resort to measures to tackle crude and insulting remarks. Surely it is time we raised our expectations about standards of behaviour in our schools. If boys do not learn to conduct themselves in a civilised manner and treat their teachers with respect, young women will be fearful of entering the teaching profession.
Christina Thomas
Durham
• In your report on the disturbances involving hundreds of young people in Clapham, south London, last week (‘Young people want to come together’: experts respond to mass teen meet-ups in Clapham, 3 April), you quote a report by the YMCA that highlights falling local authority funding for youth services in England. Ironically, the YMCA itself had a much-loved facility in central London (Central YMCA), until it was sold off last year for property development. Camden council was powerless to prevent the sale despite the change of use. Until we start to prioritise youth and community needs over profits for the rich, we run the risk of more incidents of this kind.
Colin Coombs
London
• Considering the discussion around the impact on our fractured society of “manosphere” social media (Protect men and boys from manosphere influencers, Labour MPs tell Ofcom, 24 March), and our often isolated and exhausted adult men, perhaps our humble leisure centres (and modest funding) could provide an answer?
Free, weekly “lads v dads” sessions for boys aged 12-25 and their dads. Ping-pong tables set up en masse in the biggest room, alongside a similar number of chess tables. Turn up with your dad (or someone else’s) and play either game – that’s it. A chance to see your peers, do something screen-free and satisfying, and be in a room full of men. No booze, no hierarchy, no pressure, no league, no kit, no rain.
It might start something helpful and could be a hub for all sorts of community outreach.
Jo Martin
Thornbury, Gloucestershire
• The growing masculinity crisis in UK schools is not one that can be solved by teachers alone. Last year, the Guardian journalist John Harris spoke of the quiet decimation of youth clubs and how few people seem to care. Spending cuts from 2010 slashed councils’ funding for youth services across England and Wales, with over a thousand publicly run youth centres closing by 2023.
It’s here that the answer lies. Youth organisations and clubs that sit at the heart of a community are where difficult conversations take place, where vulnerability is valued and where identity is moulded.
At Fight for Peace – a youth sport for development charity that has had an academy in North Woolwich, east London, since 2007 – we see how specialised spaces allow for conversations about masculinity in a healthy, safe and supportive way.
We run a weekly male personal development group called “man talk” that is tailored to hold discussions about masculinity, and this has become an important space for young men across the borough to express themselves without persecution or judgment and challenge one another.
Unlike the academic school setting, where prejudicial views are punished, this space allows for youth mentors to deconstruct harmful narratives and behaviours through listening, championing values such as respect, and building belonging. The coaches at Fight for Peace who lead free combat sports sessions embrace this mentality too.
The result is an environment and community hub where boys and young men can find connection through sport, build emotional intelligence and develop perspectives on women and girls that are rooted in empathy, equality and mutual respect.
The answer to tackling the masculinity crisis does not lie in educational policy alone, but with wraparound support from youth organisations. It’s time to start caring and see the real power of youth and sport organisations.
Grace Allison-Arnold
Communications and content officer, Fight for Peace
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