Do boys benefit from male teachers in elementary school? Evidence from administrative panel data

Abstract

With girls having overtaken boys in many education indicators, the “feminization” of elementary school teaching is generating debate about its disadvantages for male students. Hence, using administrative panel data on the universe of students, teachers, and schools in one German state, I exploit within-school and within-teacher variation to test for teacher gender effects on the type of middle school recommended and then chosen in the German multitrack educational system. The results indicate barely any effect of teacher gender on either recommended or chosen school type for either boys or girls. Even when the analysis follows students into middle school, no effects of elementary school teacher gender are discernible on either subsequent changes in school type or grade repetition.