Incentives and professional development of teachers in Mexican schools

Quality of education is a determining factor in competitiveness. In order to compete globally, Mexico would have to raise its standards beyond its current low achievement. Several innovations at federal and state levels have been developed to raise the quality of basic education through teachers' professional training, new learning presence in schools, and improving teachers' working and salary conditions. This paper examines teachers' incentives and their impact on students' learning achievement. The first part of this paper shows that teachers in basic public schools are better paid earlier on their professional lives than other comparable groups are. The second part of this paper finds that some teachers incentives at the school level improve learning achievement. For instance, it seems that teacher's enrollment in the Carrera Magisterial program has a positive effect on learning achievement. Further, investments in teachers are most effective when targeted toward increasing teacher's practical experience and developing content-specific knowledge.