Teachers' Incentives and Professional Development in Schools in Mexico

The quality of education is a determining factor in a nation's competitiveness. To compete globally, Mexico needs to raise its education standards. Several innovations to raise the quality of basic education at the federal and state levels have been developed: professional training of teachers, new "learning presence in schools," and improvement of working conditions and salaries of teachers. The author examines teachers' incentives and their impact on students' learning achievement. She shows that early in their professional lives, teachers in basic public schools are better paid than in other comparable groups. She also finds that some incentives for teachers at the school level improve learning achievement. For instance, the enrollment of teachers in the Carrera Magisterial program has a positive effect on students' learning achievement. Furthermore, teachers' training is most effective when targeted toward increasing their practical experience and developing content-specific knowledge.