The Importance of Personnel Economics - Essay Example

?Personnel Economics Table of Contents Introduction 3 Background of the Problem 3 Literature Review 5 Conclusions and Recommendations 8 References 10Introduction The importance of effective school education has often been argued to impose substantial impacts upon the development of an economy. In this regard, the ability of the teachers has evidently played an essential role for the students while delivering appropriate educational support to them. From a broader theoretical perspective, it can be affirmed that the personnel economic policies designed by majority of modern educational institutions tend to address certain significant concerns. One of the key concerns in this context is related with selecting and subsequently, assigning appropriate individual staff members with responsibilities to deliver better education to the students. The other concern in this regard has been the stimulation of adequate mechanisms in order to develop the ultimate potentials in students (Neal, 2011). Emphasising the present performance of the personnel economics framework as applied in the modern educational institutions, the discussion hereunder intends to briefly highlight the impact of teacher quality on educational outcomes. Moreover, the discussion focused on addressing the impacts of teachers’ compensation contracts on their performances or educational outcomes. Background of the Problem Arguments in various studies have signified that the professional qualities of a teacher are of paramount importance to ensure the success of a student (Hasnain & et. al., 2012; Leigh, 2012; Neal, 2011; Lazear, 2003). However, the recently observed changes in the global economy can be observed to have created various problems relating to teachers’ aptitude and their capabilities. Correspondingly, it can be observed that teachers’ aptitude has been severely affected over the past few generations due to the changing trends in the personnel economic policies across global nations (Hasnain & et. al., 2012). In relation to the present environment of the education sector, one of the major problems associated with selecting and assigning of appropriate individuals involve screening of teachers in accordance with the needs of the students. Therefore, it can be stated that the process tends to create a link between the performance and the retention measures of the teachers. As from the preceding few generations, it has been viewed that the personnel policies practiced by the public school systems often create link between teachers’ retention and their respective performances inappropriately; therefore, hindering the effectiveness of the entire education system to a substantial extent. However, in various scenarios, scholars have been evidently advocated that the existing tenure decision along with retention practices often involve inefficient attributes of personnel policies, which altogether affects the educational system efficiency (Neal, 2011). Nevertheless, the organisational system that tends to measure teachers’ performances creating a linkage with retention or tenure decision is not widely followed by the modern educational institutions, which eventually generates various potential issues within the system (Neal, 2011). From the observation of various studies, weak retention and promotion processes in the educational system tend to reduce the aptitude and the capability of the teachers in delivering quality education. In relation to the present educational settings, the personnel economic policies have also been identified with significant deficiencies associated with the interrelation between the performance of the teachers and their existing salary structure. Moreover, the educational institutions have further been identified to reduce cost of their services through lower salary structure of the teaching professionals owing to easy availability of competent teachers (Leigh, 2012). Although the incentive plans designed for the teachers in the educational system often play a decisive role in improving their quality, it also brings major challenges due to increased level of business market competition. In various scenarios, the incentive plans made for the teachers often involve major problems associated with existing market competition. As majority of public based education is generally run by the States, the schools are likely to face minimum challenges than the privately held educational institutions. More significantly, the increasing pace of competition in the educational market often creates severe constraints in the teacher incentive plans or structures at large (Lazear, 2003). In this regard, the performance based incentive structure for the teachers has radically fuelled the competitive environment amid the educational institutions in the unconventional global economy. Literature Review With reference to the empirical study made by Hanushek & Rivkin (2006), it has been clearly admitted that the quality of the teachers is regarded as one of the indispensable elements of a better educational environment. In order to examine the impact of teacher quality, particularly on educational outcomes, the authors in the empirical study have critically recognised four major attributes that plays a vital role in characterising teachers. These facets include experiences along with educational qualifications of teachers, their salary structures, tests and certifications. In this regard, teachers’ experiences along with educational backgrounds can be duly considered as the essential aspects leading towards increased quality of delivering effective education to the students. Additionally, the salary of each individual teacher in accordance with their academic background and experience, also acts as an imperative aspect in improving quality of education. In this regard, an appropriate pay-scale in accordance with the academic background and experience of the personnel tend to empower teachers to deliver adequate and quality education, enabling the students to attain their desired academic goals. On the other hand, the authors, in the empirical study also stated that the attributes such as teachers’ tests and certification activities can unfavourably impact the performance of the teachers to offer quality based education. In this regard, the process of developing aptitude and teaching skills of the teachers can significantly increase their potentialities and help to determine student achievement by a substantial degree (Hanushek & Rivkin, 2006). According to the empirical study of Rockoff (2004), adequate evidences regarding the importance of teacher quality can be apparently observed in respect to deliver effectual education to the students. With reference to the empirical evidences in the study, it has been affirmed that teacher quality may be a major bearing or a key aspect in developing students’ achievements. In accordance with the observation, it can be apparently affirmed that the characteristics of teachers such as experience and educational background among others might not appropriately denote their quality in imposing vital impacts on educational outcomes. Moreover, the policies associated with teachers’ or retention may prove to be quite inefficient than the process of rewarding teachers in the context of delivering quality education to the students (Rockoff, 2004). Accordingly, the following graphical illustration represents the evidence regarding the quality of teachers, which has been measured in the form of standardised scale with respect to their experiences and academic aptitude levels. Source: (Rockoff, 2004) In accordance with the empirical evidence of Leigh (2012), it can be apparently observed that disparities, especially in the salary structure, impose extensive impacts on the quality of the teachers in delivering effective education to the students. In relation to the evidence based study of Leigh (2012), it can be affirmed that a feasible increment in teachers’ pay along with providing much attention towards their compensation contracts may positively increase the quality of the teachers impacting educational outcomes at large (Leigh, 2012). Although various important facets can be recognised to be impacting teachers’ quality, there lay certain other significant aspects that can be witnessed to play a decisive role in enhancing teachers’ aptitude and their potentialities to deliver education assuring utmost quality. In this regard, the empirical study made by Fredriksson (2005) has identified various factors that eventually lead towards increased level of teacher quality on educational outcomes. In this regard, the aptitude of organising, managing and dealing with students in heterogeneous settings, in terms of learning opportunities and progression, can effectively empower the teachers to deliver utmost quality and impose considerable impacts upon educational outcomes. Additionally, the study has also evidently demonstrated that the aspects of quality awareness, professional ethics along with professional freedom of teachers can substantially improve teachers’ quality and ensure greater student achievement (Fredriksson, 2005). Conclusions and Recommendations From the above analysis, it can be affirmed that the professional quality of teachers has major bearing upon student achievement. Moreover, the teachers’ quality plays an imperative role in attaining desired educational outcomes for the students. However, in various scenarios, teacher quality is severely distracted by different internal along with external constraints. The rising competitive environment in the educational field in hiring competent teaching workforce along with lower compensation plan in public as well as private educational system have been broadly affecting the quality of teachers in delivering quality education to the students. Emphasising this particular area of concern, the report briefly demonstrated various evidence based studies in critically discussing the major influencing factors of lower teacher quality. The studies have also identified the factors that play a decisive role in increasing teachers’ quality and ensuring deliverance of quality based education to the students. It is worth mentioning in this context that the formation of an adequate compensation and incentive system would significantly motivate the teachers to improve their innate quality in delivering quality-based education to the students causing strong impacts on their educational outcomes at large. In this similar context, the development of a performance-based incentive plan would facilitate the education sector to empower teacher quality to a substantial extent. Moreover, the continuous practice of teacher aptitude tests along with certification strategies would also enable the educational sectors to radically improve teachers’ quality. It can be thus affirmed that the practice of conducting aptitude tests and certification programs would focus on enhancing professional ethics and quality awareness, enabling the teachers to increase their capability of providing adequate educational support to students. Furthermore, effective training along with development programs should be provided to the teachers in managing and organising the learning opportunities of the students. This might further be beneficial in improving teachers’ quality. Conclusively, better execution of the accessible resources relating to the deliverance of quality education, along with offering equal pay scale benefits to the teachers can also influence in enhancing teachers’ quality and most vitally, enabling them to deliver effective education to the students. References Fredriksson, U., 2005. Quality Education and the Key Role of Teachers. Workshop 4, pp. 1-20. Hanushek, E. A. & Rivkin, S. G., 2006. Chapter 18 Teacher Quality. Handbook of the Economics of Education, Vol. 2, pp. 1061-1078. Hasnain, Z. & et. al., 2012. Performance-related Pay in the Public Sector: A Review of Theory and Evidence. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 6043, pp. 1-53. Lazear, E. P., 2003. Teacher Incentives. Swedish Economic Policy Review, Vol. 10, pp. 179-214. Leigh, A., 2012. Teacher Pay and Teacher Aptitude. Economics of Education Review, Vol. 31, pp. 41-53. Neal, D., 2011. The Design of Performance Pay in Education. The Handbook of Economics of Education. Vol. 4, pp. 495-550. Rockoff, J. E., 2004. The Impact of Individual Teachers on Student Achievement: Evidence from Panel Data. The American Economic Review, Vol. 94, No. 2, pp. 247-252. Read More