Recruiting and Retaining Teachers in the UK: An Analysis of Graduate Occupation Choice from the 1960s to the 1990s

Abstract

This paper examines the market for teachers in the UK from 1960 to the mid 1990s using graduate cohort data from 5 separate cohorts. The use of this data allows us to simulate the effect of possible teacher pay rises over time. We find that relative wages in teaching compared to alternative professions have a significant impact on the likelihood of graduates choosing to teach, although the impact depends upon the market situation at the time. The wage effect on the supply of teachers is strongest at times of low relative teachers' wages, or following a period of decline in those wages. It is also strongest for those individuals who have more recently graduated.

¿Quiénes eligen carreras en educación en Colombia? Caracterización desde el desempeño en las pruebas Saber 11°

“…Estos resultados para el caso colombiano coinciden con la evidencia internacional que sugiere que no solo es bajo el resultado en pruebas estandarizadas de quienes después se convierten en docentes (Chevalier, Dolton y Mcintosh, 2007;Hanushek, Kain, Orien y Rivkin, 2005), sino que se ha deteriorado a través del tiempo. Para Estados Unidos, Corcoran et al (2004aCorcoran et al ( , 2004b de programas en docencia, la cual ha encontrado diversas explicaciones en la literatura; una de ellas es el bajo crecimiento del salario de los docentes con relación al salario ofrecido a profesionales en otras áreas del conocimiento.…”

Teacher Literacy and Numeracy Skills: International Evidence from PIAAC and ALL

“…Interestingly, primary school teachers at the 90th percentile are not outperformed by the non-teachers at the 90th percentile, suggesting that there are some very highly skilled teachers. Given that wages for teachers are substantially lower than potential private sector wages at the high end of the skills distribution (Chevalier et al 2007;Stinebrickner 2001), these results suggest that nonpecuniary factors (e.g. job security, secondary benefits, intrinsic motivation) may play an important role in the decision to become a teacher for highly skilled people.…”

Urban density and pupil attainment

“…Using different methods and data, Dolton and van der Klaauw [9], Hanushek and Rivkin [21], Hanushek, Kain, and Rivkin [22], Murnane and Olsen [37] and [38] show that individuals respond to (relative) wage incentives in their decision to start teaching or leave this occupation, and that teaching in urban areas might be a poor option compared to more remunerative alternatives available in these locations. Chevalier, Dolton, and McIntosh [5] and Hanushek, Kain, and Rivkin [22] also report that working conditions in urban schools are perceived to be worse than in provincial areas, and that teachers changing schools within urban districts might 1 While proximity of goods and individuals is a natural requirement for of economies of scale to emerge in urban environments, knowledge spillovers might not constrained by distance or within the boundaries of urban areas. However, Jaffe, Trajtenberg, and Henderson [29] provide evidence on the importance of proximity for know-how diffusion too.…”

“…We include only those pupils who are in schools that do not admit students on the basis of academic ability and we do not have data on pupils attending private schools 6 . We will use this information to estimate the influence of changes in urban density resulting from 5 Prior to 2002 this information was collected only at school level. 6 Private schools educate around 6-7% of pupils in England as a whole.…”

“…Since 2002, the DfES has also carried out a Pupil Level Annual Census (PLASC) which records information on pupil's school, gender, age, ethnicity, language skills, any special educational needs or disabilities, entitlement to free school meals and various other pieces of information including postcode of residence (a postcode is typically 10-12 neighbouring addresses) 5 . PLASC is integrated with the pupil's assessment record (described above) in the National Pupil Database (NPD), giving a large and detailed dataset on pupils along with their test histories.…”