Author:

Abstract:

Objectives This article aims to contribute to the understanding of the relevance of teachers’ preparation by studying the association between teachers’ qualifications and student results in a broad set of countries. Perspective and theoretical framework Teacher quality has been identified in the literature as the most relevant predictor of student achievement among those that can be modified by educational policies (Nilsen & Gustafsson, 2016; Nye, Konstantopoulos, & Hedges, 2004; Rivkin, Hanushek, & Kain, 2005). Nonetheless, the definition of teacher quality is often unclear, and the evidence around which specific teachers’ characteristics explain the differences in student results is inconclusive. Teachers’ qualifications—defined as teachers’ training and experience—have caught a lot of attention from academia and policy makers as it is expected that a well prepared teacher will perform better than an unprepared one (Goe, 2007; Nilsen & Gustafsson, 2016). The evidence regarding the association between teachers’ qualifications and student achievement is inconsistent, with most of the research being carried out with data from the US and Europe. These inconsistencies are often attributed to the fact that the association between teachers’ qualifications and student achievement is highly context dependent. Methods and data The research questions are addressed by estimating multilevel models using TIMSS 2015 data from 34 countries. The dependent variable is student achievement. Teacher qualification is operationalized by means of: teachers’ experience, teachers’ educational degree, teachers’ specialization. Results The estimations for the different countries show mixed results for the variables under analysis. In some countries a positive association between teachers’ qualifications and student achievement is found, these results being consistent with what can be expected from the literature. Nonetheless, there are also a few countries in which the direction of the association is contrary to the expectations. In most of the countries, no evidence of association is observed. These mixed results point out the differing logics and functioning of different school systems and therefore, the difficulty of making general policy recommendations. Further analysis focusing on more vulnerable students (low SES, immigrants) can help disentangle the specificities of the association between teacher qualifications and student achievement within countries. On the other hand, looking at common characteristics of countries in which these associations appear as significant can also help explain these mixed results. Scientific significance of the study The main contribution of this work is to broaden the understanding of the association between teacher qualifications and student achievement by including several school systems, most of which have not been explored before. By doing so, new possible explanations to inconsistencies found in previous evidence emerge.