The failure of incentives to drive school improvement

The failure of incentives to drive school improvement

ACER Chief Executive, Professor Geoff Masters AO, has criticised the use in education systems of incentives schemes such as performance pay linked to improved test results, financial rewards for school improvement, sanctions for schools that do not meet annual improvement targets, and greater competition between schools for students.

Writing in Teacher Magazine, Professor Masters says there are good reasons to question the effectiveness of incentives as a school improvement strategy.

The countries using incentive schemes tend to be those that have experienced the greatest declines over the past decade in student performance on international assessments such as PISA, he says.

And, the introduction of incentive programs to drive school improvement can lead to unintended negative consequences.

‘Incentive schemes often result in unintended and undesirable behaviours on the part of teachers and schools, ranging from the narrowing of the school curriculum, to withholding less able students from testing, to providing inappropriate assistance to students during tests,’ Professor Masters writes.

Professor Masters also points to growing evidence that financial rewards are only effective in low-skilled occupations. In contrast, most people in professional and creative work are motivated by the opportunity to self-direct, to master increasingly challenging work, and to pursue a purpose and make a difference in the world.

‘Whether in the form of pay-for-results, sanctions for not improving, or the threat of losing students to competitors, there is little evidence that current improvement incentives are delivering better student outcomes,’ Professor Masters writes.

‘To borrow a term from Michael Fullan, incentives appear to be among the many ‘wrong drivers’ of school improvement.’ 

Read the full article:
‘Incentives – an ineffective school improvement strategy?’ is the first article in Geoff Masters’ new series for Teacher Magazine, available at < teacher.acer.edu.au/geoff-masters >