Blackburn with Darwen has a lower proportion of male state-funded schoolteachers than the national average.

The Association of School and College Leaders has called on the Government to reverse the fall in teacher salaries nationally to attract more men and women into the profession.

Out of 1,705 teachers in Blackburn with Darwen state funded schools, only 384 of them are men meaning that male teachers make up just 22.5 per cent of the workforce – a drop from the previous year.

This is lower than the national average, where male teachers make up an overall of 24.2 per cent across state-funded schools in the 2021 to 2022 academic year.

The Education Policy Institute said pupil outcomes can be helped when teachers better represent their pupils, but the proportion of men in teaching has fallen almost every year of the last decade.

Across England, just 14 per cent of nursery and primary school teachers are male. However, a Blackburn school strives to improve the gender imbalance, with almost half of their key stage two teachers being male.

Mr M Parker, Head Teacher for Sacred Heart RC Primary School in Blackburn says that his school benefits from the diversity amongst the teaching staff. He said: “The school is enriched from having an equal split of male and female teachers across the board.

“There’s a good balance of role models, not just with genders but we have teachers that are multilingual as well to help the international arrivals and asylum seekers so that plays an important part as well.”

Despite teaching being a female-dominated industry, there is a gender wage gap where men tend to earn higher salaries than women.

The average salary for a male state school teacher is £41,604 which is three per cent higher than the £40,490 made by women.

The wage gap between male and female teachers in Blackburn with Darwen is not as drastic as the national average, however male state schoolteachers still earn an average of £14 more than women.

Men in Blackburn with Darwen area get paid £39,961 on average when they work in the classroom, and £70,994 as head teachers. Meanwhile, female classroom teachers get an average of £40,124, and heads £68,347.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the ASCL, said it is unfortunately the case that a much higher proportion of men go into leadership positions than women.

He added: "This is at least partly due to the fact that we still live in a society in which women end up taking career breaks and this can affect progression.

"It is essential that we put an end to this gender gap by offering more opportunities for flexible working so that both women and men are assisted to combine careers with families.”

The Department for Education said employers are encouraged to publish a plan setting out the clear actions that they will put in place to reduce their gender pay gap.

A spokeswoman added: "We are also working with schools to address barriers that can prevent women from progressing in the workplace."