22 October 2025
A new experimental study reveals that men applying for teaching roles in England are systematically rated lower than women with identical qualifications, highlighting a significant barrier to solving the shortage of male role models in classrooms. There is already a dire shortage of men in Britain’s classrooms. Only 24% of teachers in England are men. In primary schools the figure is just 14%, with 35% in secondary education and 3% in early years (DfE data).
The research was published originally in Science Direct.
Commentary on the new research which has been published by The Centre for Policy Research on Men and Boys (CPRMB) shows that men applying for teaching jobs are less likely to be taken on than women.
Joshua Fullard, Assistant Professor of Behavioural Science at Warwick Business School carried out an experiment where he asked 615 teachers across England to evaluate fictitious job applications for three school roles: teaching assistant, classroom teacher and headteacher. Three candidates were created for each role and their gender determined at random.
Teachers consistently rated male applicants lower than identical female applicants. On average, male candidates received scores about one point lower on a 100-point scale.
Joshua says, “The difference may seem small but it is significant, especially when it could be a critical element in a competitive hiring process. It could make the difference between someone being shortlisted or rejected. Even if only a fraction of the hiring decisions made at England’s 24,000 schools each year reflect the same bias, potentially thousands of excellent teachers could be overlooked because of their gender.”
Teaching is just one of a number of professions where there is a shortage of men, largely because they are seen as “women’s careers.” Only 11% of nurses are male, along with 18% of social workers and 21% of people employed in the care sector.
Mark Brooks, Director of Policy and Communications at the CPRMB says, “Any gender-based obstacle to men landing teaching jobs is a cause for concern. Government research shows that 90% of parents believe children need male and female role models to thrive, so it’s really important that men are on a level playing field when it comes to employment. We think an easy win in this area would be if schools used gender-blind applications for jobs, which would negate unconscious bias at a stroke.”
The CPRMB is recommending a “This Boy Cares,” campaign to encourage males to take up roles in those areas where male involvement is desperately lacking and needed. The policy suggestion comes off the back of the second Missing Men – Men and Boys’ Scorecard, which showed that there are real opportunities in a number of sectors to grow the male workforce. The Scorecard is a quarterly research publication from the CPRMB collating data on men and boys from a broader range of that available than ever before.
CPRMB Director, Nick Isles says, “It’s always important for us to point out that the CPRMB aims to promote policy to the benefit of males and females alike. In the same way that policies promoting improved attitudes to women’s health, employment, education etc., also benefit men, the same is true of ones supporting men. Any policies we advocate are designed to benefit the population as a whole by addressing the problems addressed by the male half.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
1 The Centre for Policy Research on Men and Boys (CPRMB
The Centre for Policy Research on Men and Boys (CPRMB) is a research organisation and think tank dedicated to understanding and addressing issues that uniquely affect men and boys in the UK. Its vision is a world where men and boys of all backgrounds thrive in their families and communities, one where the sexes can rise together by supporting each other. It will do this by supporting the development of new research, thinking and insight into policy affecting men and boys.
For further information, please contact Simon Garrett – simon@virtubrands.com – 07974 566043
Joshua Fullard: Joshua is an Assistant Professor of behavioural science at Warwick Business School. He has a PhD in Economics and publishes papers in topics related to education with a special interest in teacher recruitment and retention. Recent papers include investigating why teachers quit and if there is gender discrimination in schools
Warwick Business School is the largest department of the University of Warwick with its Executive MBA ranked sixth in Europe by QS and its Global Online MBA ranked in the world’s top two by the Financial Times. WBS is triple accredited by the leading global business education associations and was the first in the UK to attain this accreditation. Offering the full portfolio of business education courses, from undergraduate through to MBAs, DBAs and Executive short courses, and with a strong Doctoral Programme, WBS is the complete business school
Press Release Number: PR03/25