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Industrial actions in schools: strikes and student achievement

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  • Michael Baker

Abstract

Many jurisdictions ban teacher strikes on the assumption that they negatively affect student achievement, but there is surprisingly little research on this question. The majority of existing studies make cross‐section comparisons of the achievement of students who do or do not experience a strike. They conclude that strikes do not have an impact. I present new estimates of this impact of strikes using an empirical strategy that controls for fixed student characteristics at the school cohort level, and a sample of industrial actions by teachers in the province of Ontario. The results indicate that teacher strikes in grades 5 or 6 have a negative, statistically significant impact on test score growth between grade 3 and grade 6. The largest impact is on math scores: 29% of the standard deviation of test scores across school/grade cohorts. Grèves dans les écoles: grèves et résultats scolaires. Plusieurs juridictions prohibent les grèves de professeurs à partir du postulat qu'elles affectent négativement les résultats des étudiants, mais il y a, et c'est surprenant, peu de recherches sur cette question. La plupart des études qui existent font des comparaisons transversales des résultats des étudiants qui ont et n'ont pas subi de grèves. On conclut que ces grèves n'ont pas d'impact. L'auteur présente de nouvelles évaluations de cet impact des grèves à partir d'une stratégie empirique qui normalise pour certaines caractéristiques fixes des étudiants au niveau de la cohorte, et qui porte sur un échantillon de grèves par des professeurs dans la province de l'Ontario. Les résultats montrent que les grèves de professeurs en 4e et 5e année ont un impact statistiquement significatif sur la progression dans les tests standardisés entre la 3e et la 6e année. L'impact le plus important est en mathématique: de l'ordre de 29% dans l’écart‐type des résultats des tests pour les cohortes d’école/niveaux.

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  • Michael Baker, 2013. "Industrial actions in schools: strikes and student achievement," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 46(3), pages 1014-1036, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:canjec:v:46:y:2013:i:3:p:1014-1036
    DOI: 10.1111/caje.12035
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    Cited by:

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    2. Harold E. Cuffe & Glen R. Waddell & Wesley Bignell, 2017. "Can School Sports Reduce Racial Gaps In Truancy And Achievement?," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 55(4), pages 1966-1985, October.
    3. Piero Montebruno, 2020. "Disrupted schooling: impacts on achievement from the Chilean school occupations," CEP Discussion Papers dp1696, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    4. Martin Gustafsson & Carol Nuga Deliwe, 2020. "How is the COVID-19 pandemic affecting educational quality in South Africa? Evidence to date and future risks," Working Papers 23/2020, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    5. Blaskó, Zsuzsa & da Costa, Patricia & Schnepf, Sylke V., 2021. "Learning Loss and Educational Inequalities in Europe: Mapping the Potential Consequences of the COVID-19 Crisis," IZA Discussion Papers 14298, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Ludger Wößmann, 2020. "Folgekosten ausbleibenden Lernens: Was wir über die Corona-bedingten Schulschließungen aus der Forschung lernen können," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 73(06), pages 38-44, June.
    7. Lee Elliot Major & Andrew Eyles & Stephen Machin, 2021. "Unequal Learning and Labour Market Losses in the Crisis: Consequences for Social Mobility," CEPEO Working Paper Series 21-02, UCL Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities, revised Mar 2021.
    8. Stefan Bauernschuster & Timo Hener & Helmut Rainer, 2017. "When Labor Disputes Bring Cities to a Standstill: The Impact of Public Transit Strikes on Traffic, Accidents, Air Pollution, and Health," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 9(1), pages 1-37, February.
    9. Silke Anger & Malte Sandner & Alexander M. Danzer & Axel Plünnecke & Olaf Köller & Enzo Weber & Samuel Mühlemann & Harald Pfeifer & Bernhard Wittek, 2020. "Schulschließungen, fehlende Ausbildungsplätze, keine Jobs: Generation ohne Zukunft?," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 73(09), pages 03-24, September.
    10. Ardington, Cally & Wills, Gabrielle & Kotze, Janeli, 2021. "COVID-19 learning losses: Early grade reading in South Africa," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    11. Jaume, David & Willén, Alexander, 2021. "The effect of teacher strikes on parents," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    12. Michael Baker, 2013. "Industrial actions in schools: strikes and student achievement," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 46(3), pages 1014-1036, August.
    13. Darmody, Merike & Smyth, Emer & Russell, Helen, 2020. "The implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for policy in relation to children and young people: a research review," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number SUSTAT94.
    14. Sangeeta Lal & Rahul Mourya, 2022. "For CS Educators, by CS Educators: An Exploratory Analysis of Issues and Recommendations for Online Teaching in Computer Science," Societies, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-17, August.
    15. Werner, Katharina & Woessmann, Ludger, 2021. "The Legacy of COVID-19 in Education," IZA Discussion Papers 14796, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Nishihata, Masaya & Kobayashi, Yohei, 2024. "Inequalities in student learning and screen time due to COVID-19: Evidence from Japan," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    17. Sirvan Karimi, 2020. "Strikes in the Canadian Higher Education Sector: The Feasibility of Compulsory Binding Arbitration," International Journal of Higher Education, Sciedu Press, vol. 9(2), pages 1-54, April.
    18. Kóczán, Zs., 2024. "Lasting scars: The long-term effects of school closures on earnings," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    19. Giorgio Di Pietro & Federico Biagi & Patricia Costa & Zbigniew Karpinski & Jacopo Mazza, 2020. "The likely impact of COVID-19 on education: Reflections based on the existing literature and recent international datasets," JRC Research Reports JRC121071, Joint Research Centre.
    20. Kamila Cygan-Rehm, 2022. "Lifetime Consequences of Lost Instructional Time in the Classroom: Evidence from Shortened School Years," CESifo Working Paper Series 9892, CESifo.
    21. Andrew Eyles & Stephen Gibbons & Piero Montebruno, 2020. "Covid-19 school shutdowns: what will they do to our children's education?," CEP Covid-19 Analyses cepcovid-19-001, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    22. Alban Conto, Carolina & Akseer, Spogmai & Dreesen, Thomas & Kamei, Akito & Mizunoya, Suguru & Rigole, Annika, 2021. "Potential effects of COVID-19 school closures on foundational skills and Country responses for mitigating learning loss," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    23. Abadía Alvarado, Luz Karime & Gómez Soler, Silvia C. & Cifuentes González, Juanita, 2021. "The effect of teacher strikes on academic achievement: Evidence from Colombia," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J51 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Trade Unions: Objectives, Structure, and Effects

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