Why is There a Long-Term Shortage of Music, Sports and Art Teachers? An Analysis of the Professional Role Development of Rural Primary School Teachers in China

Abstract

The continuous shortage of music, PE and art teachers in rural primary schools in China has become an important issue affecting the balanced development of rural basic education. To investigate the shortage of teachers of music, PE and art in rural primary schools, this study mainly adopts qualitative research method to enter the field research site and to cohabit with rural primary school teachers. After a one-year field study, a large number of first-hand materials were collected, and the interview results were processed and analyzed using Nvivol12 software. The findings show that the root cause of the shortage of music, PE and art teachers in rural primary schools is not the insufficient supply of educational human resources but the social spillover problem caused by the needs of professional role adjustment and professional role transformation in rural primary schools.