Can targeted allocation of teachers improve student outcomes? Evidence from Malawi

Abstract

Teachers are one of the most important inputs for learning, but in many low-income countries they are inequitably distributed between schools. This paper discusses the case of Malawi, which has introduced new evidence-based policies and procedures to improve the equity and efficiency of the allocation of teachers to schools. The analysis finds that the impact of these policies on the allocation of teachers has been highly variable between the country’s districts, with the most successful deploying 75 % of teachers according to the rules and the least successful just 22 %. Using administrative data, the paper identifies the impacts on student progression of reductions in pupil–qualified teacher ratios in the context of the new rules. The findings show that schools that moved from having more than 90 pupils per qualified teacher to a ratio below 90 experienced reductions in lower primary school repetition rates of 3.6 %age points, likely reflecting improved learning levels, as well as a reduction in dropout rates of around 0.6 %age points.