Alternative forms of teacher hiring in developing countries and its implications: A review of literature

Faced with teacher shortage, and limited budgets several developing countries have accepted lower certification and education requirements, eliminated teacher tenure, and curtailed teacher salary to fill vacant teaching positions. Teachers hired in this manner are often known as ‘contract teachers’. A survey of the literature reveals that these practices have created a parallel cadre of undertrained, underpaid, often younger, inexperienced teachers hired locally on contract basis. These practices are viewed favorably from access, cost-savings and local-accountability perspectives. Yet scholars raise concerns that this form of teacher hiring may not be sustainable, may negatively impact educational equity from the perspective of teacher distribution, teacher morale and the professional status of teaching.     

Suing for your supper? Resource allocation, teacher compensation and finance lawsuits

Despite a large literature examining the effect of litigation on education finance and student achievement, there is relatively little recent evidence about how extra resources generated by litigation are spent. This paper uses national data to examine the effects of high court finance rulings from 1991 to 2002 on school districts’ education spending: including the categories of capital, plant, and support expenses as well as the teacher wage bill. It also decomposes the latter change into a quantity effect from teacher hiring and a price effect due to increased wages. I find that the largest spending increase comes from salary increases to teachers, with other large increases for hiring more instructors and increasing support spending. Further evidence suggests that the higher salaries are manifest more in an increased experience premium rather than higher salaries for new teacher hires. This evidence helps rationalize the role teachers unions play in supporting, and sometimes originating finance lawsuits.     

The impact of salary differentials on teacher shortages and turnover: The case of mathematics and science teachers

One of the major focuses of the recent reform movement in education concerns perceived and anticipated teacher shortages, especially in particular fields such as mathematics and science. It is widely believed that lower salaries relative to alternative occupations are responsible for teacher shortages and that higher salaries will therefore help reduce shortages. Yet there is little empirical research that examines the relationship between teacher shortages and teacher salary differentials. This paper examines this relationship for the case of mathematics and science teachers using data on a sample of medium and large school districts located within large metropolitan areas throughout the United States. The results support the general proposition that salary differentials between teachers and alternative occupations influence teacher shortages, although the relationship varies by gender and geographic area of the U.S.     

Diagnosing and dealing with salary compression

Newly hired faculty members in certain disciplines demand and receive salaries that approach or exceed those of existing faculty at the same or higher professional rank. This phenomenon is often referred to as salary compression. This paper presents methods used to determine if salary compression exists and the extent to which it exists. In addition, the results of a phone survey of university provosts provide information on how university administrators address the issue of salary compression.Presented at the Thirty-first Annual Forum of the Association for Institutional Research, San Francisco, May 26–29, 1991. Represents revision and enhancement of a paper presented at the 1990 SAIR/SCUP Conference.     

Teacher pay and teacher aptitude

Can changes in teacher pay encourage more able individuals to enter the teaching profession? So far, studies of the impact of pay on the aptitude distribution of teachers have provided mixed evidence on the extent to which altering teacher salaries represents a feasible solution to the teacher quality problem. One possible reason is that these studies have been unable to separate labor supply effects from labor demand effects. To address this, I model the relationship between current salaries and the academic aptitude of future teachers (those entering teacher education courses). Using a unique dataset of test scores for every individual admitted into an Australian university between 1989 and 2003, I explore how interstate variation in average pay or pay dispersion affects the decision to enter teacher education courses. A 1 percent rise in the salary of a starting teacher boosts the average aptitude of students entering teacher education courses by 0.6 percentile ranks, with the effect being strongest for those at the median. This result is robust to instrumenting for teacher pay using uniform salary schedules for public schools. I also find some evidence that more pay dispersion in the non-teaching sector lowers the aptitude of potential teachers.     

美国高校师资队伍建设经验及其借鉴意义

师资队伍是高校办学的重要基础,也是核心竞争力的重要体现。通过分析美国高校在师资队伍建设中非常重视教师选聘程序化、薪酬体系完整化、考核方式多样化及青年教师培养等,指出这些经验对我国有着启示作用。阐述了我国高校师资队伍建设应遵循高等教育和教师成长发展规律,坚持目标导向,借鉴国际先进经验,在教师选聘标准和程序、构建科学合理的薪酬分配体系、建立激励与约束相结合的考核评价机制、建立完善的教师培养体系、营造良好的教师发展氛围等方面应深化改革。     

我国幼儿园师资保障质量评估与提升策略

本研究以来自全国5省区的100所幼儿园为样本,采用中国学前教育研究会编制的《走向优质——中国幼儿园教育质量评价标准》中的“师资保障”子标准,运用描述性统计分析、多因变量方差分析和多元回归分析等方法,对当前我国幼儿园师资保障质量进行评价。结果显示,我国幼儿园师资保障质量总体上不容乐观,其中,工资待遇质量较差,能力建设和师资配备质量一般,只有教师伦理质量较好。不同性质幼儿园的师资配备和能力建设质量差异显著,城乡幼儿园的工资待遇质量差异显著。师资保障质量中的能力建设、教师伦理和工资待遇质量对课程促进质量具有显著影响,其中能力建设质量的影响最大。为了提升幼儿园师资保障质量,应依法保障教师工资待遇,使公办园教师逐步实现同工同酬;在提高师幼比及在场师幼比,优化教师职称结构;应加强教师培训量化管理,保证培训的针对性和实效性;对教师的激励与评价应契合教师需要,为其专业发展提供方向和动力。     

Incentives for teacher relocation: Evidence from the Gambian hardship allowance

We evaluate the impact of the Gambian hardship allowance, which provides a salary premium of 30–40% to primary school teachers in remote locations, on the distribution and characteristics of teachers across schools. A geographic discontinuity in the policy's implementation and the presence of common pre-treatment trends between hardship and non-hardship schools provide sources of identifying variation. We find that the hardship allowance increased the share of qualified (certified) teachers by 10 percentage points. The policy also reduced the pupil–qualified teacher ratio by 27, or 61% of the mean, in recipient schools close to the distance threshold. Further analysis suggests that these gains were not merely the result of teachers switching from non-hardship to hardship schools. With similar policies in place in more than two dozen other developing countries, our study provides an important piece of evidence on their effectiveness.     

美国高校兼职教师队伍建设综述及启示

文章从美国高校兼职教师产生的背景入手,分析美国高校兼职教师队伍现状及存在问题,并探索兼职教师未来职业走向,从中得到启示,借鉴美国高校兼职教师队伍发展的经验,推进我国高校兼职教师队伍发展及整体师资队伍建设水平的提升。主要体现在:加强兼职教师队伍建设;构建兼职教师培训体制;完善兼职教师薪酬制度;搭建良好的兼职教师人文环境。     

西北连片特困地区农村小学师资现状调查与分析——以甘肃省平凉市崆峒区为例

本研究通过问卷和访谈相结合的方法对平凉市崆峒区农村小学师资现状进行抽样调查与分析。结果表明,第一,教师学历和资格基本达标,达到基层学校对教师从教资格的基本要求,但是学历结构有待提升;从教龄和职称分布情况看,中青年教师比例偏少,出现两极化现象,优质教师资源流失情况较为严重。第二,教师普遍感觉工作压力大,身心俱疲,力不从心。第三,教师专业发展意识淡漠,对工作环境、工资待遇、专业发展模式、职业满意度较低。针对以上问题,本文从教师资源配置、管理理念转变、教育资源整合以及加大教育资金投入等几个方面提出了相应建议。     

Improving teacher preparation and selection: lessons from the Pennsylvania experience

This paper examines Pennsylvania's teacher preparation and selection processes over the last decade. Teacher test scores are examined across colleges of education, and extreme differences in teacher test scores are found. Also, extreme variations are evident among districts' employed teachers. A unique survey of district employment practices reveals that, on average, 40% of a district's teachers previously attended there as students. An exploratory econometric model indicates that the higher the unemployment rate in a district, the more likely it will hire its former students to teach, and that the greater the fraction of former students now in the district's teacher force, the lower is student achievement. The paper concludes with a discussion of conventional and unconventional strategies to improve the quality of teachers actually hired by school boards.     

Determinants of salary growth in Shenzhen, China: an analysis of formal education, on-the-job training, and adult education with a three-level model

Using 1996 surveyed data of 1023 employees in Shenzhen, China, this study estimated the effects of three forms of human capital on employee salary, namely formal education, on-the-job training provided by employers, and adult education pursued by employees. Using a hierarchical linear model, the analysis estimated employee monthly salary growth over a maximum of six years due to (a) such temporal factors as work experience and improved performance, (b) individual-level characteristics, and (c) firm-level characteristics. This study found that (a) pre-work formal education was positively associated with salary only at hiring, (b) employees' experience in changing production technology as well as on-the-job training were positively associated with salary increases through improved technical proficiency, formal education was not; (c) manufacturing firms introduced more new production technology than the service sector and provided more on-the-job training, thus improving workers' performance and increasing their salary.     

What Does Professional Rank Mean to Teachers? A Survey of the Multiple Impacts of Professional Rank on Urban and Rural Compulsory Education Teachers

Abstract

Professional rank is an important indicator of the professional capacity of compulsory education teachers. A rational professional rank evaluation system plays an important role in mobilizing the enthusiasm of teachers, improving the overall quality of teachers, and promoting the development of education. Based on stratified random sample data from compulsory education teachers in 23 counties and cities in 12 Chinese provinces, this study analyzes the multiple impacts of urban and rural compulsory education teacher professional rank on teacher salaries, development opportunities, and work duties. The authors found the following: (a) Urban-rural differences exist in the opportunity to access compulsory education teacher professional rank; rural school teachers are disadvantaged in accessing professional rank, especially senior rank; (b) Significant salary differences exist among teachers of different ranks, as well as significant urban-rural differences in the total monthly incomes and monthly salary among teachers of the same rank; (c) Teachers of different ranks have different opportunities to participate in training and undertake school duties. Within the same rank, rural teachers have fewer opportunities to participate in high-level training and have a higher proportion of school duties; (d) Significant differences exist among teachers of different ranks in terms of average classroom hours per week and important duties undertaken. There is a significant urban-rural difference in average weekly classroom hours and important duties among teachers of the same rank; weekly classroom hours are higher for rural teachers, while they have more opportunities to undertake important duties.     

Practices influenced by policy? An exploration of newly hired science teachers at sites in South Africa and the United States

In many parts of the world, newly hired science teachers’ practices are developing in a complex policy environment. However, little is known about how newly hired science teachers’ practices are enacted throughout a cycle of instruction and how these practices can be influenced by macro-, meso-, and micro-policies. Knowing how policies impact practice can result in better policies or better support for certain policies in order to enhance the instruction of newly hired teachers. This comparative study investigated how 12 newly hired science teachers at sites in South Africa (SA) and the United States (US) progressed through an instructional cycle of planning, teaching, and reflection. The qualitative data were analysed through beginning teacher competency frameworks, the cycle of instruction, and institutional theory. Data analysis revealed prevailing areas of practice and connections to levels of policy within the instructional cycle phases. There were some differences between the SA and US teachers and among first-, second-, and third-year teachers. More importantly, this study indicates that newly hired teachers are susceptible to micro-policies and are progressively developing their practice. It also shows the importance of meso-level connectors. It suggests that teacher educators and policy makers must consider how to prepare and support newly hired science teachers to achieve the shared global visions of science teaching.     

初中教师绩效工资实施及满意度的调查——以天津市为例

从2009年1月1日起,我国在义务教育学校实施绩效工资。通过问卷法、访谈法调查天津初中教师绩效工资实施及满意度现状,得出结论：天津市初中教师绩效工资实施现状基本良好,教师对绩效工资政策和学校绩效工资分配方案满意度较高,绩效工资也发挥了一定的激励作用。但教师也对绩效工资政策落实中存在的问题表示不满,认为“教师工资水平不低于当地公务员平均工资水平”未能落实的教师比例较高。另外天津教师绩效工资中的“同城不同薪”现象和教师的个体差异均影响了教师对绩效工资的满意度。     

新疆独立学院教师资源配置影响因素分析

本文通过方差分析以及LOGISTIC统计分析方法对新疆教师资源配置的影响因素进行深入分析,研究发现影响新疆教师资源配置的主要因素有高校教师资源的学历结构、职称结构、高校科研投入水平以及教师薪酬及培训投入等因素,其中影响较大的因素主要有教师的学历结构、职称结构、教师薪酬水平,教师的培训投入、高校科研投入对教师资源配置的影响程度相对较小。     

Conversations about head start salaries: A feminist analysis

This qualitative interview study investigates the Hoover Community Action Agency's Head Start salary policies as described by 3 program administrators and 10 teachers. Feminist theories explain how teachers' and administrators' interpretations of salaries reflect societal beliefs about the value of Head Start teaching. Head Start teachers acknowledge both their low wages and their deep commitment to the Head Start mission. Low- and middle-income teachers differ in how they describe current salary levels: low-income teachers are proactive in salary enhancement efforts and middle-income teachers view salaries as supplemental family income. Agency administrators, while acknowledging the low teacher wages, argue that Head Start employment is more financially lucrative than day care teaching. Administrators cite teacher commitment, not salary, as the best predictor of teacher tenure.     

The determinants of school district salary incentives: An empirical analysis of,where and why

Most public school districts in the United States use a salary schedule to determine compensation for teachers within the district. However, some school districts have implemented incentive pay schemes that allow flexibility at the school or even individual teacher level. These compensation schemes in some ways may more closely approximate a competitive labor market. This study examines the factors that influence a district's decision to offer incentive pay using districts from the 1999 to 2000 Schools and Staffing Survey. The results suggest that school districts that face barriers to recruitment or retention and districts that face competition from non-sectarian private schools are more likely to offer incentive pay.     

Gender salary differences in economics departments in Japan

By using unique survey data, we conduct a detailed study of the gender salary gap within economics departments in Japan. Despite the presence of rigid pay scales emphasizing age and experience, there is a 7% gender salary gap after controlling for rank and detailed personal, job, institutional and human capital characteristics. This gender salary gap exists within ranks. We find no gender promotion differences. In addition, we find a concentration of the salary gap in public universities and in research oriented universities. Our results show no evidence that the gender salary gap is reducing over time, and reject the hypothesis that females’ choice between household work and market activities is responsible for the gender salary gap.     

教师绩效工资改革的国外研究及其启示

随着国外教师工资改革的不断推进,学者对教师绩效工资改革的研究不断拓展和深入。梳理发现,研究内容主要集中在教师工资与教师供给、教师工资与学生产出、教师工资与教师流失以及公立学校和私立学校绩效工资改革对比研究等方面。对国外绩效工资改革的反思,使我们认识到教师工资制度改革必须要与学校组织的变革有机结合;政策制定、实施要努力做到＂程序公平＂;采用合理的评价标准和方式;正确对待绩效工资,将其看作一个持续的工作而不断完善。