DO TEACHERS MAKE A LIFE-LONG LEARNER? EXAMINING THE EFFECT OF TEACHER QUALITY ON THEIR STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS LIFE-LONG LEARNING

The emergence of a competitive global economy has placed an increasing emphasis on life-long learning. The Bologna Process launched in June 1999, for example, has added life-long learning as one of its prerequisites to make the European Higher Education Area a reality (Council of Europe, 2006). Despite its growing importance, we know so little about what factors influence attitudes towards life-long learning. This paper hypothesizes that life-long learning is a “skill”, which can be nurtured and developed during the childhood period. Hence, the objective of this research is to examine whether and to what extent school context, measured by teacher characteristics, influences life-long learning.

More specifically, we use the U.S. National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) data to examine the impact of teacher characteristics on the attitudes towards life-long learning of their former students 12 years after they were first interviewed. Variables used to measure teacher effects include students’ perceptions, years of teaching experience, standard teaching certification, teacher education and teacher salary.