Is there a need for more male teachers in primary school? A cross-country study on gender role model effects on educational outcome using PISA scores from 2000-2012

Sammanfattning: The Programme for International Student Assessments (PISA) has enabled cross-country studies on educational outcome, which is proven to be important for economic growth. The latest release of the 2012 PISA results has induced worldwide debates on how to best enhance the national outcomes. One of these debates is whether there is a lack of male role models in primary school given the general trend of an increased fraction of female teachers, and a concern for the result of male students. Is there a need for more male teachers in primary school? Previous studies on gender role models are mainly conducted as within-country studies and have found mixed evidence. This study attempts to contribute to these studies by investigating whether aggregate data supports a student-teacher gender interaction effect, and if this effect indicates that there is a gender role model effect that can explain crosscountry differences in educational outcome. An education production function is estimated using a panel of 33 OECD countries and test scores from PISA between the years 2000-2012. We find no evidence of a need for more male teachers, but rather a positive effect of female teachers for both girls and boys, contradicting the gender role model theory. Nevertheless, the study finds strong indications for that student-teacher gender interaction is important in explaining differences in educational outcome.