Does Gender Play a Role in Online Teaching?
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A Guy’s Perspective
Online ESL teaching has become a great way for teachers to make money from the comfort of their home. You can set your own schedule, create your own hours and teach from anywhere in the world. These companies have made it possible for teachers, stay at home parents, and travellers to make extra money, whether part-time or full-time.
If you search online, you will find many examples of online ESL teachers showing their colorful classrooms and demonstrating energetic teaching styles that help their learners engage with and practice speaking English.
A majority of the teachers you will see teaching online are female and this can turn many great male teachers away from a potentially rewarding work-at-home opportunity.
With the overwhelming majority of online ESL teachers being female, male teachers might wonder if gender plays a role in getting hired and being successful.
Do online ESL companies prefer hiring female teachers?
Companies want to hire qualified teachers that will make a good fit for their platform. They are not interested in hiring specifically male teachers or female teachers, but rather those that fit their qualifications. If you have the qualifications, you are eligible to apply and get hired, regardless of gender. Some companies are particular about age limits, but this has more to do with the countries requirements and government regulations than anything else.
You can see male and female teachers on all online teaching platforms, but in the majority of the cases, the female demographic is much higher than men. This could be due to a number of reasons, however it might have to do with the overrepresentation of female teachers in training videos and social media imagery and content.
Why are men underrepresented in online teaching?
Lack of male role models
One of the reasons why men might be underrepresented in online teaching is because there are just not a lot of male online teachers on social media showing how possible it is to teach online.
When there are more female teachers showing how to teach online on YouTube, Instagram and on online teaching websites, some men might find it difficult to connect with these teachers and, therefore, will feel that it is not something that they would be successful at doing.
Potential male teachers might look at the lack of males teaching online and feel that they would not fit in and that this type of work may not be a great option for them. The lack of male role models could be a deterrent for them to pursue this type of work simply because of underrepresentation online.
Further to this, male teachers who are not able to find other successful male teachers teaching online will assume that they don’t exist, or are in such few numbers that online companies would not be interested in hiring them.
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False assumptions
Many male teachers might also see the highly decorated, colorful, and bright classrooms with a lot of props and visuals as something that they need to also achieve in their own online classrooms.
While having a large amount of props and visuals is not necessarily a requirement by online teaching companies, we do see a lot of this in images and videos online. Of course, there are plenty of male teachers who have decorated classrooms and use lots of props and rewards, but this is certainly an individual’s decision. Teachers can get away with using less props and visuals and still be successful.
Potential male teachers might also see the level of energy and enthusiasm in training videos, YouTube tip videos and company-issued material as something that they could never attain. They might not want to gravitate to this type of work due to this skewed online imagery. Some male teachers may not consider themselves to be “bubbly” or animated enough and might associate this type of teaching style with all online teaching expectations.
In reality, these assumptions are not accurate of online teaching. Potential male teachers might make false assumptions that they also need to act this way, teach with this high energy and use a multitude of props, visuals and an overly decorative classroom.
Can male teachers be successful in online teaching?
Male teachers certainly can be very successful in online teaching. In fact, since there are less male teachers on many of the popular platforms, there is a significant demand for male teachers and there is a lot of opportunity to be very successful and make a lot of money. These potential reasons might explain why male teachers can have great success while teaching online:
High booking rate
Male teachers, generally, experience high booking rates. This is due to the fact that there are less male teachers teaching on various platforms and also because some parents are looking for male teachers and role models. There are many families looking to have male teachers teach their children, particularly their sons.
It is also important to be aware that while being a male teacher might be helpful to get a surge of initial bookings, you need to still provide an engaging, high-quality class to your students to have them come back.
Popularity
Are male teachers more popular than female teachers? Not specifically. Any teacher can gain popularity because of the branding they do for themselves in their classroom and for how they engage and teach their students. Popular teachers come in any age, gender, and style and it takes being a good teacher to gain popularity on any online teaching platform.
Popularity as an online teacher comes from branding yourself as a great teacher from your profile video, photos and what you offer your students in the classroom. If you have a particular style of teaching, or skill or talent, use this in your classroom branding to gain more popularity with your students.
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels.
Three Challenges Male Teachers Face When Teaching Online
Although it may be true that male teachers can be successful while teaching online, they might also experience some challenges in a female-dominated industry
If you are a male teacher applying to teach English online, you will notice that most of the teachers online sharing about their journey are females.
Due to the fact that it is a highly female-dominated industry, male teachers might wonder if they will be alone in this venture. Sometimes the experiences of male teachers teaching younger children online may be different than female teachers and it can feel isolating when you are not able to connect with others.
However, rest assured that there are a lot of successful male teachers teaching online and you will not be alone!
Comparing themselves to female teachers
As a male teacher, you might feel that you just can’t exude and demonstrate the passion, excitement and energy that you might see in some of the female training videos and class examples.
Male teachers are very much valued and needed in online teaching. You do not have to teach with a very high level of energy or excitement. TPR (total physical response) is one area that a lot of male teachers might feel uncomfortable in, but with some practice, it is not intimidating and comes quite naturally after you start teaching.
Remember that a lot of companies have hiring processes that require TPR, props and a high amount of energy to pass, but once you are teaching, they are more relaxed and allow you to teach the way you want. You will attract the students that are attracted to your teaching style and classroom environment.
Burnout and exhaustion
If you have a high booking rate, you might find it easy to book lots of classes and forget about ensuring you have a balance of rest and time away from online teaching.
Male teachers may be in high demand on certain platforms so they are able to work full time hours and, in return, sacrifice sleep, time with their family, and not having a healthy work-life balance. It is important to remember why you wanted to get into online teaching in the first place. If it was to create extra income for yourself and your family, make sure that it doesn’t come at a cost to your health!
My Experience as an Online ESL Teacher
As a male teacher beginning to teach ESL online, I was intimidated with the lack of male presence in videos, training and online resources. It appeared that the industry was very female-dominated and there were very few male teachers as role models who were successfully teaching online. It was hard to imagine myself in this industry without representation of other successful online male teachers. It turns out that this industry is full of great teachers, of all genders, and you will be able to get the support that you need to be successful.
My experiences as a bricks & mortar teacher are all at the elementary levels, so I had experience teaching young children, but I was never an extremely animated or theatrical person in my classroom. I decided to take the leap and explore online teaching as a way to make money from home and build an online teaching business that allowed me to create my own schedule and work on my own terms.
I started working with VIPKid, and branched out into other companies like GoGoKid, Magic Ears, and some independent online freelance teaching. My experience has been nothing but positive. I established a large student base with strong connections to my students and their families.
I became a high-demand teacher who was able to turn my schedule into teaching short-notice classes only. Short-notice teaching meant that I could open my schedule 24 hours in advance and my students would book me within the 24-hour window, which also meant a short-notice bookings bonus!
My philosophy on successful online teaching is that “if you build it, they will come”. Creating a brand for yourself, teaching quality classes, and being yourself is key to building your online teaching business, regardless of gender, age or anything else. Students are looking for all kinds of teachers and you can be very successful in this industry as a male teacher. You need to love kids (if that is who you want to teach), be passionate about teaching, and enjoy this type of work.
If you aren’t having fun, it will show and you will struggle, regardless of gender!
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels.
Final Thoughts
Does gender play a role in the success of an online teacher? There is a space for anyone in online teaching and if you are passionate about what you do, then there are lots of opportunities for you to build a successful online teaching business. Rest assured that male teachers are at no disadvantage in this industry, even if it seems to be mostly represented by females.
In fact, starting out as a male teacher might give you some advantages because of the reasons discussed in this article. However, it is still up to you to work hard, connect with your students and teach quality classes that will make your students want to return.
Tim Gascoigne
Tim is originally from sunny Bermuda but also calls Canada home. He has worked as an international school teacher in Beijing and Malaysia, but left his brick & mortar teaching position to teach online in 2017. He manages his website, Online Teacher Dude, where he helps people teach online and make more money from home.
