CLAIMS that paedophile hysteria is prompting male graduates to shun teaching in primary schools have stirred up a debate in Bournemouth.

Boris Johnson, the Conservatives' higher education spokesman, said on Wednesday that men's fear of being branded a "paedo" while teaching young children has resulted in a ratio of 13:1 between female and male teachers in primary schools.

But the huge imbalance between men and women is not a new phenomenon and in Bournemouth currently less than 17 per cent of the borough's primary school teachers are men.

Marilyn Leah from Poole SCITT, a teacher training course for primary teachers, said: "Yes there are still slightly fewer men.

"This year we had 10 men out of 25 students, but we are one of the highest recruiting courses for male trainees in the country.

"Paedophile fears are in the back of their minds and many initially want to stick with Key Stage 2 children from age eight and older, and not Key Stage 1.

"The male trainees are wary of younger children because it's easier for female members of staff to put their arms around them.

"But once they experience the younger age group at Key Stage 1 they change their minds and realise the positive benefits these children receive in their education by having a male teacher."

But Sid Willcocks, an NAHT teaching union educational consultant and long-time former head of a Bournemouth primary, strongly disagreed.

"Boris Johnson is talking rubbish and is just trying to grab newspaper headlines," he said.

"It's the teaching career structure and not accusations of being called a paedophile that put men off.

"Many are daunted by the challenge of teaching younger children.

"Also men aren't keen on teaching the whole curriculum in primaries and prefer focusing on specialist subjects as they do in secondaries.

"Historically therefore, primary teaching has been favoured by women and this is why at secondary schools there are sometimes more men."