Can Transparency Improve Preferences and Norms in the Public Sector?

Policy Context

Despite Uganda’s striking gains in student attendance — 96% of children of primary school age attend primary school — learning outcomes remain very poor. High rates of teacher absenteeism may partially explain these poor outcomes in Ugandan public schools, where more than one out of four teachers are absent on any given day. The research team hypothesized that social norms and expectations around others’ behaviors play an important role in explaining why public school teachers exert low effort.

Study Design

This pilot study sought to test whether changing teachers’ expectations (that they will not be disciplined or face career consequences) would reduce absenteeism. The researchers randomly assigned 160 public primary schools across two districts to  three interventions or to a control group.  The interventions consisted of 1) structured meetings with teachers to discuss professional norms and absenteeism, 2) showing teachers a recording of elected district leaders discussing their own professional effort and behavior, or 3) both interventions combined. The control group received no intervention.

Results and Policy Lessons

Before intervening, the average teacher attendance rate in the sample was 75%, and around a quarter (27%) of classrooms where pupils were present had no teacher. In the very short term (two months after the interventions), the combined intervention led to an increase in attendance by 8 percentage points (vs a 2.7 percentage points increase for the recording only treatment, and 5.6 percentage points increase for meetings only). The effect decreased five months after the interventions, with teacher attendance in treated schools ranging from 2 to 6 percentage points higher.