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Do Teachers' Labor Contracts Matter?

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  • Aparicio Fenoll, Ainoa

    (University of Turin)

  • Quaranta, Roberto

    (Collegio Carlo Alberto)

Abstract

Previous literature on the effect of tenured and tenure-track vs. non-tenure-track professors on students' performance at university finds contrasting results. Our paper is the first to test whether tenured/tenure-track and non-tenure-track teachers differently affect students' performance at school. We use data on standardized test scores of a representative sample of primary and secondary school students in Italy and information on their Italian and mathematics teachers' labor contracts. Controlling for class- and subject-fixed effects, we find that non-tenure-track teachers decrease students' performance by 0.21 standard deviation. This detrimental effect is fully explained because non-tenure-track teachers are less experienced. In line with previous findings on the adverse effects of teachers' absences, non-tenure-track teachers are also associated with 0.1 standard deviation worse student performance when their contracts last less than a year.

Suggested Citation

  • Aparicio Fenoll, Ainoa & Quaranta, Roberto, 2023. "Do Teachers' Labor Contracts Matter?," IZA Discussion Papers 16380, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
  • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16380
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Juan J. Dolado & Salvador Ortigueira & Rodolfo Stucchi, 2016. "Does dual employment protection affect TFP? Evidence from Spanish manufacturing firms," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 7(4), pages 421-459, November.
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    5. Atkinson, Adele & Burgess, Simon & Croxson, Bronwyn & Gregg, Paul & Propper, Carol & Slater, Helen & Wilson, Deborah, 2009. "Evaluating the impact of performance-related pay for teachers in England," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 251-261, June.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    teachers; labor contracts; students' performance; standardized tests;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J41 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Labor Contracts
    • H52 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Education

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