Absence, substitutability and productivity: Evidence from teachers

Asma Benhenda

Labour Economics, 2022, vol. 76, issue C

Abstract: Teacher absence is a widespread phenomenon, but little is known about its effects on teacher productivity and schools’ strategies to cope with this temporary disruptive event through substitute teachers. Using a unique French administrative dataset matching, for each absence spell, each missing secondary school teacher to her substitute teacher, I find that, on average, teacher absence reduces pupil test scores by around 0.40% of a standard deviation. On average, substitute teachers are unable to mitigate this negative effect. However, there is substantial heterogeneity depending on the type of substitute teacher: certified substitute teachers are able to compensate for up to 25% of this negative impact, while non-certified substitute teachers have no statistically significant effect.

Keywords: Absence; Substitutability; Productivity; Teachers (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I2 J2 M51 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:labeco:v:76:y:2022:i:c:s0927537122000574

DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2022.102167

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