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Does teacher gender matter in Europe? Evidence from TIMSS data

Author

Listed:
  • Zoltán Hermann

    (Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, Hungarian Academy of Sciences)

  • Alfa Diallo

    (Regional Centre of Energy Policy Research)

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of teacher gender on student achievement in 20 European countries. We employ a student fixed effect approach to account for unobservable subject-invariant student ability and non-random student-teacher sorting. Our results show that female teachers tend to increase students’ test scores, especially for girls. However, this effect is far from universal; it is present in half of the countries in our sample. The female effect is likely to reflect selection into the teaching profession, as it is stronger in countries where the teacher wages relative to graduate wages are higher for women than for men. Having a teacher of the same gender also benefits students in Western Europe. We further find that the female teacher effect is more pronounced for low achievers, and in Western Europe for students with an immigrant background.

Suggested Citation

  • Zoltán Hermann & Alfa Diallo, 2017. "Does teacher gender matter in Europe? Evidence from TIMSS data," Budapest Working Papers on the Labour Market 1702, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    • Handle: RePEc:has:bworkp:1702
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    File URL: http://www.econ.core.hu/file/download/bwp/bwp1702.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Lucia Nixon & Michael Robinson, 1999. "The educational attainment of young women: Role model effects of female high school faculty," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 36(2), pages 185-194, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. Alexandra de Gendre & Jan Feld & Nicolás Salamanca & Ulf Zölitz, 2023. "Same-sex teacher effects," ECON - Working Papers 438, Department of Economics - University of Zurich, revised May 2024.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    teacher gender; student achievement; fixed-effect estimation; TIMSS;
    All these keywords.

    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

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