The relationship between proficiency and within-class age dispersion: the influence of teacher’s qualificationss: the influence of teacher’s qualification

Abstract

In this article we show that among elementary school students in Brazil there is a negative and significant relationship between within-class age dispersion and pupil’s proficiency. The relationship between the age-grade delay and school proficiency is usually explained by several factors that influence the educational process, since both student’s age-grade and his/her proficiency reflect difficulties implicit in the child’s life. However, we show that the negative relation between within-class age dispersion and individual proficiency can be mitigated by the presence of teachers with high levels of certain attributes, such as teaching experience and years of schooling. This relationship supports the hypothesis that the greater the within-class age dispersion, the difficulties of implementing uni¬form learning projects are more significant, considering that there is a greater diversity of interests. Therefore, under those circumstances the role of the teacher in class seems to be essential to minimize any negative effect that age diversity may have on individual performance.