To teach or not to teach: Negative selection into the teaching profession in Uruguay

Recruiting highly motivated and capable individuals to train and later work as teachers is key for improving instructional quality. Yet, research suggests students who performed best in secondary school often prefer other professions. We use a longitudinal retrospective survey of high-school graduates who completed the PISA-2009 assessment to determine, through multi-variate logistic regression models, to what extent the negative selection hypothesis applies to the Uruguayan case. Results show negative selection into teacher training exists in Uruguay, with individual, family and previous schooling factors playing a determinant role in this choice of tertiary studies.