IEB Report

Political Economy

Effects of teacher quality on student achievement

IEB Report 2/2017

The role played by schools and teachers in the acquisition of students’ knowledge and competences is an ongoing object of study in the Economics of Education. In the case of teachers, this analysis focuses essentially on three elements: the rst is quantitative in nature – that is, seeking to determine if the student-teacher ratio is a relevant factor in students’ cognitive learning; while the other two elements are qualitative – on the one hand, determining whether having a “better” or “worse” teacher has an impact on the acquisition of students’ competences, and, on the other, examining which factors affect teacher quality.