As a male student, I prefer male teachers as I feel a lot more comfortable being taught by them. In year 12, I only had male teachers and I liked all of them. In terms of age, the best teachers are probably around the 30-35 range. 3 of my teachers last year were that age and were really good at teaching. In year 11 I had a male teacher in his 50s for IT, and though he was getting on in age he was still an expert in the area and to me he was a very intelligent fellow. Overall I found that the male teachers I had taught a lot better than the female teachers I had in year 11. The females tend to skip certain sections or not be detailed enough in their explanations. Whilst my male teachers made sure to explain everything to us in detail, provided me with excessive amounts of revision material and never once seem to be annoyed when I visited them and asked for assistance. Though I'm sure that other people would have differing opinions, it could just be that the male teachers I had at my school were better than their female counterparts