He also wants extra efforts to recruit more male teachers and to introduce more "excitement" to lessons.

BBC: Boys with male teacher

But the NASUWT teaching union questioned the evidence that male teachers had any impact on the outcomes of children.

BBC: Men urged to teach in primaries

The law does not ban male teachers from teaching girls, but the Education Ministry prefers female teachers for girls.

NPR: Women's Group Slams Gaza Law On Gender Segregation

But just over 15% of male teachers and 10% of females still had to deal with the problem each week.

BBC: Lessons 'tougher for male staff'

Solutions may need to go beyond more fathers, mentors and male teachers.

FORBES: The Need to Create a White House Council on Boys to Men

He also said there should be extra efforts to recruit male teachers.

BBC: Children know a good teacher when they see one

General Teaching Council for England figures show a slight improvement on last year, with 27.2% schools with no male teachers, down from 27.8%.

BBC: One in four primary schools still has no male teachers

Education Secretary Michael Gove said more male teachers were needed but they were put off by worries that teacher-pupil contact was a "legal minefield".

BBC: One in four primary schools still has no male teachers

In 1998, the then Secretary of State for Education, Estelle Morris, said more male teachers would help improve the performance of boys in school.

BBC: NEWS | UK | Education | Call for male primary teachers

There are just 48 male teachers in state nurseries.

BBC: One in four primary schools still has no male teachers

In a speech on Tuesday, Mr Gove said more male teachers were needed, especially in primary schools "to provide children who often lack male role models at home with male authority figures who can display both strength and sensitivity".

BBC: One in four primary schools still has no male teachers

Good lord, if I had only known about your last segment about not enough male teachers, as volunteer art and music teacher myself and as a person who knows what it can be like picked on by female teachers in elementary school, a person with a rare autism.

NPR: Hurricanes Wreak Havoc In Haiti And Cuba

According to the Department for Education and Skills, 15.7% of primary school teachers in England are male - 26, 200 teachers, compared with 141, 000 female primary teachers.

BBC: NEWS | UK | Education | Call for male primary teachers

Only 12% of primary school teachers are male, compared with 38% of secondary school teachers - with the proportions virtually unchanged since last year.

BBC: One in four primary schools still has no male teachers

In Scotland only 8% of primary school teachers are male, while about 15% are male in Northern Ireland.

BBC: One in four primary schools still has no male teachers

The overall pattern is similar in Wales, with figures published in August showing that about a quarter of all teachers are male, but the proportion of men entering the profession is rising slightly.

BBC: One in four primary schools still has no male teachers

Department for Education and Skills figures show that in the UK in 2001 there were 27, 400 male and 141, 000 female primary school teachers.

BBC: NEWS | UK | Education | More 'Mr Right' teachers wanted

Only about 14% of teachers in Kent primary schools are male.

BBC: Male primary teacher 'positive discrimination needed'

Being young, male and an information technology specialist are all commodities that are in demand for teachers in inner-city schools.

BBC: Motorway

My male high school journalism teacher taught me to write and most of my female English teachers gave me a love of literature that is one of the mainstays of my spiritual life to this day.

FORBES: Reframing Controversial Issues Often Resolves Them

Mr Gove said a "troops to teachers" programme, to be launched later this year, would "ensure that there are many more male role models entering teaching".

BBC: One in four primary schools still has no male teachers