Rural Teachers Research Articles

Defining Rural: Rural Teachers’ Perspectives and Experiences

Defining Rural: Rural Teachers’ Perspectives and Experiences

Exploring the Influence of Career Interests on Career Adaptability and Gender Differences Within the Groups of Rural Teachers in Hebei, China

Exploring the Influence of Career Interests on Career Adaptability and Gender Differences Within the Groups of Rural Teachers in Hebei, China

The Appeals, Dilemmas, and Pathways of Enabling Rural Teachers’ Professional Development Through Emerging Technologies

With the rapid advancements in technology, especially in digitalization and intelligence, numerous modern technologies have poured into rural schools, effectively improving their informatization conditions. Nevertheless, these technologies remain detached from rural teachers, failing to significantly enhance the quality of education and teaching in rural areas. Rural education is a crucial aspect of ensuring balanced development in education. The question of how to enhance rural teachers’ technological application abilities and fully leverage the positive role of technology in rural education and teaching has become a significant topic of current research on rural education issues. To better address this question, this study conducted a thorough examination of the specific appeals of rural teachers in the process of technology enablement. It was discovered that rural teachers generally face dilemmas such as insufficient technological application abilities, difficulties in obtaining quality teaching resources, and the lack of continuous technical support and update mechanisms. Based on these findings, specific pathways such as strengthening rural teacher training, optimizing the allocation of educational resources, and establishing mechanisms for continuous technical support and updates are proposed to aid in the high-quality development of rural education.

Professional Development of Rural Teachers in contexts of Educational Reforms

Professional Development of Rural Teachers in contexts of Educational Reforms

Blended Learning as a Strategy to Improve Sustainability and Equity for Professional Development of Rural Teachers

Abstract Teachers in rural areas should receive equal support and professional development training as those in urban areas. It is a strategy to promote education equity for the students in the former area. This study takes the learning experience and teaching practice experience of rural teachers who participated in the Rural Teacher Replacement Training Program (RTRTP) in Guangdong Province, China, as a case. Seventeen rural teachers who participated in the blended training program were chosen as a research sample. The effect of blended training was evaluated at four levels: participants’ reaction, participants’ learning, behavior, and learning results. A model of influencing factors for rural teachers’ blended training was developed. The results showed that rural teachers’ overall satisfaction with the blended training program was relatively high. Teachers reported a greater increase in knowledge skills, but the translation into practical knowledge and the impact on the organization was not as high as expected. Four dimensions and 14 main categories influence the blended training effect of rural teachers. This study provides a reference for improving the efficiency of rural teacher blended training, especially for promoting the teaching practice after teacher training.

Rural teachers’ meanings about teaching of decimal metric system

This article describes and identifies the personal meanings that the multigrade schoolteacher has in the teaching of the decimal metric system, through the facets of didactic mathematical knowledge. In various investigations supported by this theory, the need to apply the notion of facets or didactic suitability as an instructional process in which teachers are knowledgeable and competent in an academic setting, has been visualized. In this sense, the research is framed in teachers of different areas of knowledge that guide mathematics in which ten teachers participated. The data collection is based on the analysis of a diagnostic test and a semi-structured interview. Finally, as one of the relevant results of the research, three epistemic configurations are obtained from the personal meanings identified in the teachers interviewed.

An analysis of rural teachers’ vocational mobility intention and ways to support social stability

To accurately grasp the current situation of rural teachers' vocational mobility intention and its influencing factors is the premise of stabilizing rural teaching teachers. The survey shows that the rural primary and secondary school teachers in Suizhou City of Hubei province and Feicheng City of Shandong province have a strong vocational mobility intention, reaching nearly 90% and 64.5% respectively, which indicates that the rural teaching staff is still unstable. Teachers of different regions, genders, ages, and school types also have different intentions on horizontal and vertical social mobility. The income problem is the deep reason that affects the turnover intention of rural teachers. With the development of rural education, people from all walks of life pay more attention to the problem of social mobility of rural teachers, but most of them tend to be in poor areas. From the perspective of push and pull theory, this paper expounds and analyzes the social mobility willingness and its influencing factors of rural teachers in economically developed areas, draws corresponding conclusions, and puts forward suggestions for rebuilding rural educational ecology.

РОЛЬ ЦЕРКОВНО-ПРИХОДСКИХ ШКОЛ В ПРОСВЕЩЕНИИ ЗАБАЙКАЛЬСКИХ СТАРООБРЯДЦЕВ (НА ПРИМЕРЕ СЕЛ ХАСУРТА И УНЭГЭТЭЙ ЗАБАЙКАЛЬСКОЙ ОБЛАСТИ В НАЧАЛЕ ХХ ВЕКА)

The paper examines the history of the creation of rural parochial schools in the Old Believer villages of Transbaikalia at the beginning of the twentieth century using the example of the villages of Khasurta and Unegetei. These villages are notable for the fact that they were formed at the beginning of the 19th century by baptized Buryats of the Khorinsky department, who converted to the Old Believers. They formed a separate clan administration - Kurbinskoe. Analysis of the materials showed that the literacy schools founded in 1903 in two villages of the society, Khasurta and Unegetei, had their own buildings in 1910 and were the only cultural and educational center of the Kurba Valley. With the assistance of missionary Orthodox priests, children of baptized non-Russians and Old Believers peasants were involved in the educational process, increasing the level of literacy among the population. The education system of parochial schools included subjects of a religious nature, but the educational component was not strictly ecclesiastical. Children at school also received natural and humanitarian knowledge. The parochial schools created at the beginning of the twentieth century “survived” the historical stage of the transition of the old pre-revolutionary education system to the new Soviet school. The education system on which the teaching of new schools in the first years of Soviet power was based, for the most part, relied on the traditional teaching methods of the old church school. The paper pays due attention to the work of a rural teacher who, despite everyday difficulties and meager funding, taught rural children to read and write. After the revolutionary events of 1917, the teacher was in the thick of all the affairs of rural activists, helping to transform the lives of rural residents.

Exploring Science Teachers’ Belief towards Inquiry Based Teaching Learning Activity at Grade –VI

The National Curriculum of Bangladesh (2012) recommends student-centric IBT (IBT) learning activities in the science classroom. However, teaching science in Bangladesh is hardly follows the instructions of curriculum, and most teachers are found not to place adequate emphasis on involving the students in the inquiry process. A possible reason might be science teachers’ belief. The focus of the research questions is to find out firstly, the beliefs of both urban and rural sixth grade science teachers and secondly, the differences between genders and lastly to explore the challenges of IBT. Thereby, a sequential explanatory mixed method was adopted for this study. The participating teachers were from both rural and urban areas. An interview was taken to support statistical and quantitative data for an in-depth explanation. The result revealed that teachers from both urban and rural areas have positive beliefs towards inquiry, and there is no significant difference between urban-rural and male-female teachers. In the case of urban teachers, the challenges were time and classroom management, but not for rural teachers. This study recommends that stakeholders use the inquiry instruction, reshape the training, and provide the teachers with the necessary opportunities for professional development programs in an effective way. Teacher’s World: Journal of Education and Research, 49 (2),135-149

A Visual Analysis of the Hotspots, Processes and Prospects of Digitalization Research on Rural Teachers in China over the Past 10 Years

Over the past decade, research on rural teachers' digitization in China has gradually become a hot social issue of great concern. Using CiteSpace to visualize and analyze the high-quality literature on rural teacher digitization-related research in the CNKI database in the past 10 years, the timeline shows a clear research trend during the decade, including three stages of sustained growth (2014-2019), a brief decline (2020), and a rapid rebound (2021-2024), which is in line with the changes in the national education tactic , the rural revitalization strategy, and the rise of online education in the wake of the COVID-19 epidemic and the global trend of digital transformation. The research power of rural teachers' digitalization is mainly concentrated in teacher training colleges and education academies, and the authors and research institutes are characterized by small concentration and large dispersion, and the cooperation network has not yet been widely formed. The three core themes of "rural teachers", "rural education" and "rural revitalization" are highlighted in the cited keywords, reflecting the close connection between the research content and national tactic and social needs. In light of the regional and special characteristics of rural education, research that is detached from the reality of the countryside and based on a single methodology will gradually change to a diversified research model based on the localized characteristics of the countryside.

The influence of professional identity and occupational well-being on retention intention of rural teachers in China

Rural teachers are fundamental to rural education. Currently, the high turnover rate of rural teachers is a bottleneck that restricts the improvement of rural education quality. However, most existing studies focus on why rural teachers cannot stay but do not pay enough attention to the reasons for them to stay. Therefore, from the perspective of retention, this study breaks through the limitations of teacher stability represented by teacher turnover in the past and further enriches the theoretical understanding of rural teacher retention. This study adopts a questionnaire survey of 588 rural teachers in Yulin City, Shaanxi province, China. It found that the overall retention intention (emotional retention and interest retention) of rural teachers was not very strong, and it shows statistically significant differences in terms of age, address on their ID card, marital status, educational level, years of teaching in rural areas, and the type of house they currently live in. The following three strategies are proposed in the hope of stabilizing the rural teacher team: (i) Focus on key groups and accurately meet the real needs of rural teachers, (ii) Strengthen professional identity to improve benefit retention intention, and (iii) Promote occupational happiness to further enhance the emotional retention intention of rural school teachers.

Research on the Path of Cultivating Core Qualities of New Generation Rural Teachers

Research on the Path of Cultivating Core Qualities of New Generation Rural Teachers

How rural school teachers can support the learning adjustment of left‐behind children under the ‘double‐reduction’ policy

AbstractQuality‐oriented education under the guidance of the ‘Double Reduction’ policy aims to ensure all children grow in an all‐around way with different backgrounds. However, many left‐behind children (LBC) whose parents work away in cities have a greater tendency toward academic and mental problems compared with non‐left‐behind children. Teachers are the important adults in the lives of the LBC who spend much time staying with each other. This study draws from interviews with 16 rural primary and secondary school teachers. Guided by social support theory, this qualitative research highlighted the importance of teacher support on children's learning adjustment through social support networks. It argued that strategic guidance of teachers targets individuals' difficulties in the environment through emotional support, material support, information support and companionship. Under the ‘Double Reduction’ policy, teachers adopted tiered instruction and offered after‐school services to meet the needs of LBC. Finally, the result revealed that rural teachers help LBC change their learning attitudes, thereby promoting self‐learning ability.

Exploring student and teacher perceptions of the ideal teacher in Russia

ABSTRACT To improve current teacher education and teacher evaluation practices it is important to collect and critically examine different perspectives on who the ideal teachers are. The present study explores and compares how the ideal teacher is conceptualised by students and their teachers. Data were collected from 53 high school students and 16 of their teachers in urban and rural schools in Russia using an exploratory mixed-method study. The results indicate that students saw teachers’ ability to recognise students’ individual differences but treat everyone equally as the two most important teacher qualities. Teachers, however, attributed the most value to professionalism and ability to follow ethical principles. In addition, rural teachers self-assessed their own teaching quality more favourably than urban teachers while both rural and urban students gave similar ratings to the quality of teaching provided by their teachers.

Mathematics discourse in instruction during functions lessons in grade 10 rural classrooms

Despite the global significance of functions in mathematics education, there has been limited research on how South African rural teachers address specific mathematical concepts related to functions. This qualitative multiple case study, conducted within a post-structural paradigm, delved into the discourses of Grade 10 teachers during functions lessons in rural classrooms. The study focused on the teaching of mathematical concepts related to functions and involved five mathematics teachers from rural school sites in Acornhoek, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. These teachers were selected based on their experience in teaching mathematics. The research employed semi-structured interviews, unstructured classroom observations, and Video-Stimulated Recall Interviews with all five teachers. By narrowing the focus to one teacher's lesson, this paper analyses the presentation of functions concepts using the Mathematical Discourse in Instruction (MDI) framework. The study revealed that clear teaching materials and learner-engaging instructional methods enable meaningful engagement and concept internalisation. Through the visible use of the components of the MDI framework, the teacher successfully engaged learners, clarified misconceptions, and encouraged learners' participation, ultimately enhancing the coherence and understanding of mathematical concepts related to functions in the Grade 10 classroom.

A study of the impact of the new digital divide on the ICT competences of rural and urban secondary school teachers in China

Teachers' competence in information and communication technology (ICT) applications can lead to a deeper integration of technology into the curriculum and improve the quality of education. However, its application and distribution issues could result in resource inequality and social injustice. Based on the ICT competency framework for teachers, the study investigates the variables influencing teachers' ICT competency. A prediction model of teachers' ICT competency is built using empirical data from secondary school teachers in Hebei Province, China, both in urban and rural settings. The study results show that a new digital divide does exist between urban and rural teachers and that differences in digital environment and digital literacy reflecting the new digital divide have different degrees of impact on teachers' ICT competence. Age and subject also affect teachers' ICT competence. In the new era, we can start with knowledge acquisition, knowledge deepening and knowledge creation to improve teachers' ICT competence.

Analysis on the High-quality Development Path of Rural Teachers Under the Background of Rural Revitalization

Analysis on the High-quality Development Path of Rural Teachers Under the Background of Rural Revitalization

Relationship of Teachers' Academic Guidance Competence and Students' Satisfaction at Secondary School Level

This study focused on the association between teachers' academic guidance competence and students' satisfaction at the secondary school level in district Mardan, KP, Pakistan. Teachers and students at government secondary schools provided data, and a quantitative survey, more precisely a survey-type research design was used. Based on the stratum-wise distribution of schools, stratified random sampling was used applying Krejesic and Morgan's table to calculate the sample size. In district Mardan, both urban and rural teachers and students from government secondary schools made up the study's population. A self-created questionnaire with a five-option Likert scale was used to collect the data. Supervisor feedback was utilized to guarantee face validity, and a pilot study was carried out to confirm reliability. Students' academic satisfaction, teachers' guidance competence, and the relationship between the two variables were examined by independent sample t-tests using SPSS V-22. In light of the importance of teacher-student interactions in secondary education, the study finds that excellent academic mentoring correlates to better levels of student satisfaction.

Experiences of Rural Secondary School Teachers in the Integration of Technology during Emergency Remote Teaching during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Namibia: An Exploratory Study

This study explored the experiences of rural secondary school teachers in Namibia during emergency remote teaching (ERT) owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. The TPACK framework and sociocultural theory were used. Semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with 26 rural teachers revealed that despite the availability of technological tools such as laptops, smartphones, and radio and television channels, integrating these into the teaching process posed significant challenges. A lack of technological knowledge among teachers coupled with infrastructure issues and inadequate institutional support hampered the smooth execution of ERT. Despite these challenges, teachers employed innovative methods to engage their students remotely. However, the findings underline the need for increased digital literacy, better ICT resource allocation, and adequate teacher training to successfully navigate a technology-driven teaching environment. This study provides insights into educational practice, policy initiatives, and future research toward a resilient and technology-enhanced educational system.

Teacher shortage: an analysis of the rural teachers living subsidy policy on teacher attraction and retention in rural Western China

ABSTRACT The teacher shortage is a critical issue in many rural areas around the world. This paper presents the findings of two studies that investigated the impact of financial incentives on teacher attraction and retention in rural schools in Western China. Using the theory of compensating wage differentials and a mixed-method approach, we found that providing living subsidies to student-teachers has an impact on teacher attraction but not retention, while tuition fee and loan reimbursements have a positive impact on both attraction and retention. For teachers already teaching in rural schools, the amount of the living subsidy, satisfaction with the policy, and identification of the policy are the key factors that affect the success of the policy. We argue that for the subsidy amount to be effective, it should be based on feedback from rural teachers and be at least 15% of their monthly salary.