Institutional Organisation, Performance Determinants and Success Strategies in Secondary Science Teacher Preparation in France

Abstract

In France, secondary teachers are public sector employees. Becoming a science teacher in secondary education is subject to passing public competitive entry examinations. Preparation for these examinations is provided by University Institutes Departments, which are essentially assessed on the basis of the successful performance of their students in the exams. This paper analyses the determinants of departments' performance. After a broad description of the French system of secondary science teacher recruitment, significant determinants of successful performance are identified. Finally, from this analysis, some strategic implications for the management of departments' success performance have been derived.

Notes

t‐statistics are in brackets.

X1C: external registered competitors;

X2A²: marginal effect of size;

X3D: final number of posts effectively filled per departmental candidate.

Physics and electronics serves as a reference and is therefore omitted.

^NS: non‐significant;

*: significant at the 10% level;

**: significant at the 5% level;

***: significant at the 1% level.

REM, Random Effects Model; FEM, Fixed Effects

Model; OLS, Ordinary Least‐Squares.