Teacher absence and incentives in primary education: primary education results from a National Teacher Tracking Survey in Ecuador

Abstract

High rates of absence of teachers from their posts is a serious obstacle to delivery of education in many developing countries, but hard evidence on the problem has been scarce. This study, carried out as part of a new multi-country survey project in health and education, is the first systematic investigation in Ecuador into the extent and causes of employee absence from primary schools. Data from our nationally representative survey reveals that teachers in Ecuador are absent from their posts nearly 14 percent of the time. While this overall absence rate is relatively low compared with those of other survey countries, it remains high enough that it is likely to impede learning.

Citation

Ecuador: Creating Fiscal Space for PovertyReduction: A Fiscal Management and Public Expenditure Review, Volume 2,2004, 136-162

Teacher absence and incentives in primary education: primary education results from a National Teacher Tracking Survey in Ecuador

Published 1 January 2004