Premium
‘Perceived’ competition and performance in Italian secondary schools: New evidence from OECD—PISA 2006
Author(s) -
Agasisti Tommaso,
Murtinu Samuele
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
british educational research journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.171
H-Index - 89
eISSN - 1469-3518
pISSN - 0141-1926
DOI - 10.1080/01411926.2011.588314
Subject(s) - competition (biology) , propensity score matching , heteroscedasticity , matching (statistics) , sample (material) , psychology , demographic economics , economics , econometrics , mathematics education , statistics , mathematics , ecology , chemistry , chromatography , biology
In this paper, we investigate the effects of competition on the performance of Italian secondary schools as measured by maths achievement scores (PISA 2006 dataset). Competition is measured by an indicator of ‘perceived’ competition (generated from an answer provided by the schools’ principals). The methodology employed is a propensity score matching that is corrected to take into account heteroskedasticity and finite sample bias. The results show a positive effect of competition on school performance. Nevertheless, this effect is quite low (between 3.62% and 4.05% computed at the average score level) and is consistent with previous findings about educational systems in Italy and worldwide. This is relevant for policy‐making because competition appears to impact school performance even in a country like Italy where specific pro‐competitive policies are quite absent.