Is a schools’ performance related to technical change? – A study on the relationship between innovations and secondary school productivity

This paper examines the relation between innovations and productivity in Dutch secondary schools. Innovation clusters are directly included in the production model. In order to correct for differences between schools, we add school type, region and year controls. The results indicate that process innovations, teacher professionalization innovations and education chain innovations are positively related to productivity, whereas new courses innovations and pedagogic innovations are negatively related to productivity. The results also show that innovations are directly related to productivity, but also through student performance. The positive results of teacher professionalization, education chain and process innovations are similar to what is found elsewhere in the literature.

► Innovations are related to school productivity.
► Education chain and teacher professionalization innovations are positively related to productivity.
► New courses and pedagogical innovations are negatively related to productivity.
► Process innovations are positive, but not significantly related to productivity.
► Productivity is directly influenced by innovations and influenced by innovations through student performance.