Insee Analyses · August 2023 · n° 87

The impact of doubling the REP+ bonus on teachers’ desired mobility

In France, the annual bonus offered to teachers working in specific disadvantaged schools, part of the REP+ network (“Réseau d’éducation prioritaire renforcé”), has doubled between 2017 and 2019. This sharp increase enables us to measure the effect of financial incentives on teachers’ desired mobility. The empirical analysis is based on rank-ordered lists from Montpellier’s educational authority.

An additional 1,000 euros bonus increases the share of teachers willing to work in a REP+ school by 1.4 percentage points. Most responsive teachers are the least experienced ones as well as those who have already been working in a REP+. Simulations suggest that this change in financial incentives had not been detrimental to REP schools: it would have rather incentivized teachers to move more often and to opt for regular (not disadvantaged) schools less often.