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Teacher shortages, teacher contracts and their effect on education in Africa

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  • Jean Bourdon
  • Markus Frölich
  • Katharina Michaelowa

Abstract

Summary. To enhance primary enrolment rates, many African countries have launched large teacher recruitment programmes in recent years. Given tight budgetary constraints, teachers are no longer employed in civil service positions, but on the basis of (fixed term) contracts typically implying considerably lower salaries and a sharply reduced amount of professional training. We analyse the effect of this change on educational quality in Niger, Togo and Mali, on the basis of very informative data, which are comparable across these countries. We use a variety of estimation techniques, including a non‐parametric estimation of quantile treatment effects. Our results demonstrate that contract teachers tend to reduce inequalities in student outcomes. Overall, the effects are positive in Mali, somewhat mixed in Togo and negative in Niger. This ordering is consistent with theoretical expectations related to the manner in which contract teacher programmes were implemented differently in each of the three countries under study.

Suggested Citation

  • Jean Bourdon & Markus Frölich & Katharina Michaelowa, 2010. "Teacher shortages, teacher contracts and their effect on education in Africa," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 173(1), pages 93-116, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:jorssa:v:173:y:2010:i:1:p:93-116
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-985X.2009.00601.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Eric A. Hanushek & John F. Kain & Steven G. Rivkin & Daniel M. O'Brien, 2005. "The Market for Teacher Quality," Discussion Papers 04-025, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.
    2. Bourdon, Jean & Frölich, Markus & Michaelowa, Katharina, 2007. "Teacher Shortages, Teacher Contracts and their Impact on Education in Africa," IZA Discussion Papers 2844, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Markus Frölich, 2008. "Parametric and Nonparametric Regression in the Presence of Endogenous Control Variables," International Statistical Review, International Statistical Institute, vol. 76(2), pages 214-227, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. Stephan Stahlschmidt & Matthias Eckardt & Wolfgang K. Härdle, 2014. "Expectile Treatment Effects: An efficient alternative to compute the distribution of treatment effects," SFB 649 Discussion Papers SFB649DP2014-059, Sonderforschungsbereich 649, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany.
    2. Karthik Muralidharan & Venkatesh Sundararaman, 2013. "Contract Teachers: Experimental Evidence from India," NBER Working Papers 19440, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Sonja Fagernäs & Panu Pelkonen, 2012. "Preferences and skills of Indian public sector teachers," IZA Journal of Labor & Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 1(1), pages 1-31, December.
    4. Carroll, David & Parasnis, Jaai & Tani, Massimiliano, 2018. "Teaching, Gender and Labour Market Incentives," IZA Discussion Papers 12027, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Valente, Christine, 2019. "Primary education expansion and quality of schooling," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    6. Dreher, Axel & Poutvaara, Panu, 2011. "Foreign Students and Migration to the United States," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(8), pages 1294-1307, August.
    7. Todd Pugatch, 2017. "Is teacher certification an effective tool for developing countries?," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 349-349, April.
    8. Gundersen, Sara & McKay, Michael, 2019. "Reward or punishment? An examination of the relationship between teacher and parent behavior and test scores in the Gambia," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 20-34.
    9. Liao, Wei, 2019. "“Weekday rural teachers, weekend urban spouses and parents”: A Chinese case of how alternative hiring policy influences teachers’ career decisions," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 53-63.
    10. Duflo, Esther & Dupas, Pascaline & Kremer, Michael, 2015. "School governance, teacher incentives, and pupil–teacher ratios: Experimental evidence from Kenyan primary schools," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 92-110.
    11. Lei, Wang & Li, Mengjie & Zhang, Siqi & Sun, Yonglei & Sylvia, Sean & Yang, Enyan & Ma, Guangrong & Zhang, Linxiu & Mo, Di & Rozelle, Scott, 2018. "Contract teachers and student achievement in rural China: evidence from class fixed effects," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 62(2), April.
    12. Todd Pugatch & Elizabeth Schroeder, 2018. "Teacher pay and student performance: evidence from the Gambian hardship allowance," Journal of Development Effectiveness, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(2), pages 249-276, April.
    13. Sonja Fagernäs & Panu Pelkonen, 2011. "Whether to Hire Local Contract Teachers? Trade-off Between Skills and Preferences in India," SERC Discussion Papers 0083, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.

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