Irregular teacher turnover and student academic achievement in High Schools. A study in the subjects mathematics, German, French and History

Abstract

Teacher turnover that is not related to regular school transitions is a neglected topic of educational-psychological research. This study examines irregular teacher turnover and its effect on students’ academic achievement in the subjects Mathematics, German, French and History at four high schools of the canton of Berne, Switzerland. The study is based on an administrative dataset used to track the academic achievement of N = 1789 students from more than 100 classes. The results show that irregular teacher turnovers affect every 12th class on average, whereby definitive turnovers occur more frequently than temporary ones. In all examined subjects, panel data models show that irregular teacher turnovers have a more or less pronounced negative effect on students’ academic achievements. With respect to the students’ gender no significant differences have been observed.