Cognitive Skills in Latin American Teachers

Teacher quality is multifactorial and there is no single element that defines a good teacher. However, there are tools without which a basic education teacher could hardly perform his or her job well, such as having minimum math and reading comprehension skills.

CategoriesIn this regard, a number of studies conducted in developed countries have shown that there is indeed a connection between teachers’ mastery of these cognitive skills and the learning of their students. Unfortunately, the absence of adequate data has prevented a sound diagnosis of cognitive skills of Latin American teachers, as well as whether this is something that requires attention.

In a recent study prepared in partnership with María Lombardi of Torcuato di Tella University, CAF takes the first step toward shedding light on the issue. To this end, we analyzed the PIAAC databases, an OECD international survey that measures math and reading comprehension skills in representative samples of the population aged 16 to 65 across 39 participating countries. Chile, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru took part in the first PIAAC cycle, so we focused our analysis on the population with tertiary studies from these four countries. For statistical accuracy, we show only aggregate results (i.e. we do not analyze each country separately). For reference, we include the results of 15 OECD countries with above-average performance in the PISA Test—an OECD survey focused on measuring the skills of 15-year-olds.

The findings are worrisome. Figure 1 shows that a large percentage of teachers have very low cognitive skills. About half of those surveyed are in the two lowest skill levels of the PIAAC scale. As reference, people below the first level have, for example, difficulty understanding how much 50 percent is and identifying a piece of information within a text, while those at first level have difficulty solving problems that require two calculations with integers and comparing two pieces of information in a text. This skills gap is explained both by the low levels of competence among the adult population of these countries, and the skills gap between teachers and other people with tertiary education. By contrast, only 6 and 4 percent of teachers in benchmark OECD countries rank at the two lowest levels of math and reading comprehension skills, respectively.

As most teachers received training on the field of education (71 percent in our sample), we looked into the skills profile of people with this type of higher education. We found once again a skills gap with respect to graduates from other fields of study (see Figure 2), which is even greater than that observed between teachers and other professionals.

What does this difference mean? Teachers with degrees in other fields of study display on average higher skill levels than those trained in education (Chart 3).

In short, the results of the research indicate that the skills profile of teachers in the region should be a addressed as a priority issue. An improvement agenda should focus on analyzing working conditions, as well as mechanisms for selection, promotion and training within the teaching career, starting from entry into teacher training programs.