DDP 724. Claudia Uribe. "Políticas e Incentivos que Contribuyen al Mejoramiento del Desempeño y Motivación de los Maestros." (The Politics and Incentives that Contribute to the Improvement of Teacher Performance and Motivation) October 1999. 32 pp. Central America Project Series

The development of educational policies that aim to improve teacher’s performance and motivation, and thus of the schools in which they work, requires of a better understanding of the incentives—or disincentives—that underlie the teaching profession. Factors such as the low salaries and status of teaching, the lack of rewards, support, evaluation and professional development opportunities, not only undermine current teachers’ motivation and but also discourage future candidates into the profession creating a vicious cycle of low motivation and performance. This paper reviews some of the incentives’ schemes that have been used in several countries around the world y presents the lessons that have been learned so far about their potentials and shortcomings. As a conclusion, the author argues that incentives’ policies that target both teachers and schools are necessary to mobilize education systems towards change and improvement. However, they must not be seen as a quick and cheap solution to the complex problems of the education sector.

Keywords: teacher incentives, school incentives, merit pay, career ladders, teacher salaries, teacher evaluation

JEL codes: H52, I20, I21, N36

This paper was prepared for the “Conference on Education Reform in Central America” organized by the Harvard Institute for International Development (HIID) and Programs for Professional Development (PPE) of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, January 23-25, 1999. An earlier version of this paper was prepared for the World Bank, South Asia Education Group and presented to the educational authorities in Bangladesh.

Claudia Uribe is a doctoral student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She has collaborated with HIID in several education projects since 1992.