ACCORDING to research carried out by the Children’s Workforce Development Council there are thousands of UK children, boys and girls, who grow up without a close male influence.

Despite many efforts, the number of men teachers in our primary schools is getting fewer and fewer, this is also not a good trend. The two main reasons are the relatively low pay, and the fear of how others will judge men who carry out this important work.

Not everyone can be a teacher, but for all those thousands of UK workers who are now losing their jobs, it could be a marvellous chance for some of them to retrain and become teachers, and if many of the men would do this, it would benefit our country so much.

I was so lucky to be able to work as a volunteer teachers’ assistant at two primary schools when I was made redundant four years ago, aged 59. I had never done anything like this ever before, but it proved to be two of the happiest years of my life. The support and help I received was amazing. The sense of satisfaction when helping a child to read, write, make a model, draw, or succeed at a game was immense. The children appeared to really enjoy having a male adult to talk with, play games with, and be prepared to listen to their views.

David Quarrie, Lynden Way, Holgate, York.