UK: One in four primary schools still have no male teachers, despite rising numbers of men entering the profession, new figures show.

A quarter (25.6 per cent) of teachers qualifying this year were men, up 2.4pc since 2008, according to statistics published by the General Teaching Council for England (GTC).

But only one in eight teachers working in primary schools are male (12.4pc), the figures show.

There were 26,208 men working as teachers in primary schools as of March 31 this year, compared to 185,023 women, the figures show.

In total, around 4,000 primaries in England, or one in four, have no registered male teachers, the GTC said, despite the numbers dropping by 130 schools this year.

There are only six state secondary schools in England without men in the classroom, the regulator added.

Today’s figures also show that nurseries are still struggling to recruit male staff.

Just 48 men were working in state-run nurseries this year, and only three of them were under 25.

Overall, there were 578,755 teachers registered with the GTC at the end of March, up 1.9pc on 2010.

But just over one in ten (11pc) were not working in the classroom.

GTC chief executive Alan Meyrick said: “These figures suggest little change in the long-term imbalance between the numbers of men and women, both in the profession as a whole and in school leadership roles.”

- What do you think? Why do so few men become primary school teachers? And what impact will it have on our children? Post your views below.