Education In Rural Areas Research Articles

English teaching in Colombian rural schools: Challenges and opportunities

This qualitative multiple case study reports the perceptions of education stakeholders about English teaching in rural areas of one of Colombia’s regions: Quindío. The participants of this investigation belong to the academic community (teachers, principals, coordinators, the bilingual coordinator of the region, and pedagogical staff) of different institutions in rural areas. Through in-depth interviews, observations, and focus groups, it was possible to identify the challenges that still persist in rural contexts regarding language teaching and the opportunities this region has had, thanks to the introduction of new initiatives whose main goal is to strengthen English learningteaching processes. Amongst the challenges, rural institutions still need major investment in resources and training; and there is a call for continuity of the projects being implemented. As for the opportunities, it is evident that better progress can be reached in all processes when education stakeholders’ voices are heard.

Measuring Rural Teachers’ Digital Competence to Communicate with the Educational Community

Teachers’ communication with the educational community (students, families and teachers) may be different depending on the place where they reside. We ask ourselves whether teachers in rural areas are sufficiently prepared to carry out this communication through digital media. Thus, this study had as its aims to: (1) ascertain teachers’ digital competence self-assessment about the utilisation of ICT resources to communicate with other teachers, students and families, according to gender, type of school, age and years of teaching experience; (2) analyse comparatively if significant differences exist in terms of digital competence level between the internal categories of each variable; (3) identify which digital resources are significant predictors. A non-experimental design was used with 847 rural teachers from different rural areas in Spain. The results showed an integrating attitude of every teacher-expert in their digital skills, regarding communication both with students and their families and with the other colleagues at the educational centre. We found differences in teachers’ scores when comparing by gender and type of centre. Furthermore, we checked those applications such as Blogs, TikTok, Twitter and Moodle served were relevant predictors.

Impact of Health Education Program on Musculo Skeletal Problems among School Teachers in Rural Areas

Impact of Health Education Program on Musculo Skeletal Problems among School Teachers in Rural Areas

Primary English Language Education Policy in Vietnam’s Disadvantaged Areas: Implementation Barriers

In the context of English as a global language, compulsory English language education at the primary level has become an inevitable trend in many non-English-speaking countries, including Vietnam. However, there have been concerns regarding how English language policy is realised across contextual settings, especially in rural and remote areas of Vietnam. Based on language-in-education goals, this article investigates English language policy implementation in Vietnam’s rural and remote areas from the perspective of primary English teachers from 2008 onwards. The present paper employs a desk review of existing literature, policy analysis, and semi-structured interviews. Data collected from multiple sources show the inequality of access to English language learning in the rural localities. The findings also indicate a significant gap between the current English language policy goals and implementation in the rural primary sector regarding slow execution, curriculum variations, limited teaching resources, inappropriate pedagogy, and assessment. These problems have been accelerated due to a shortage of teachers as well as inconsistency and limitations related to pre-service teacher training programs and recruitment. Identifying significant challenges of English language policy implementation in the Northwest of Vietnam helps shed light on primary English education in remote and marginalised regions. Therefore, the recommendations target policy makers, teacher educators, and stakeholders to assist primary English teachers in rural areas to improve and advance the success of primary English education in Vietnam’s remote areas and beyond the specific context to which it refers.

Recruiting Highly Effective Teachers in Rural Schools: An Appreciative Inquiry

This study explores the successful strategies used by rural schools for recruiting and retaining highly effective teachers as the ongoing shortage of new, highly effective teachers in rural areas, who might increase student performance. Appreciative Inquiry was utilized to analyze contemporary perspectives critically. Findings indicate that encouraging college students to stay and teach in their rural communities, promoting fiscal responsibility in school districts, and creating mentorship programs for new hires helped recruit and retain effective teachers. In addition, these findings can assist initiate conversations about how rural schools should identify and encourage the next generation of teachers.

Educational Communication and Stress at Preschool and Primary Teachers in the Educational Pandemic Context

Abstract In the pandemic context, both stress and educational communication have been altered. In this article, we will analyse the dynamics of the factors involved in didactic communication and identify the real and potential stressors for teachers teaching before pandemic; we will also assess their perceptions of the anxiety felt about online teaching and how it affects educational communication. The hypothesis of the research postulates that the stress perceived by the teachers has elevated during pandemic and the educational communication has gone through a series of changes and reorientations both at the level of the didactic strategies adopted and the regulation of anxiety factors involved (the feeling of safety, the perception of break as a stress factor instead of relaxation, the volume of tasks attributed to each teacher etc). The research variables were the pandemic context in school environment, the level of stress as perceived by the teachers and the educational communication. The research objectives were aimed at assessing the perception of teachers in rural areas vs. that of teachers in urban areas regarding the stress felt and the dynamics of educational communication; also comparing the stress felt by teachers and the dynamics of educational communication incumbents vs. substitutes, educators vs. teachers and teachers in rural areas vs. urban teachers. We expect that the results of the research would have therefore a more assumed awareness from school managers of the fact that there are many predictors of stress that should no longer be ignored and that raising teacher’s resilience both at personal level and academic one should become a priority. School managers should organize mindfulness courses and anxiety management courses for teachers.

Correlation Between Student Internet Access and Teachers’ Self-Efficacy in Teaching Online Classes

The most critical requirement of an online class is the availability of the internet for a teacher and students alike. The objective of this study was to find out how student internet access correlates to teachers’ self-efficacy in teaching an online class. This quantitative study used categorical data obtained using two questionnaires, one of which was student internet access consisting of three constructs, and the other is teachers’ self-efficacy in teaching an online class. The questionnaires were distributed online to in-service teachers who had completed or almost completed an online teacher professional development program in four major universities in Indonesia. As many as 158 teachers completed both questionnaires. The data were analyzed using Spearman Correlation Coefficient to reject the null hypothesis at the significance level of 0.05. The correlation was calculated for seven teacher categories, i.e. teachers in urban areas, teachers in rural areas, elementary school teachers, junior high school teachers, senior high school teachers, experienced teachers, and inexperienced teachers. The research results show that teacher-reported student internet access correlates with teachers’ self-efficacy in teaching an online class. The level of correlation ranges from weak to strong correlations, with moderate correlations for most teacher categories. The implication of this study for teacher education is also discussed.

Predictive Analytics on Contractual Faculty Future Retention Rate in Rural Areas of India with the help of Clinical Stress cum Retention Rate Model

Purpose: Predictive Analytics study has been conducted on contractual faculty working in various engineering and management colleges in the border area of Gurdaspur, Punjab to find the retention rate of these faculty members against the various personnel policies adopted by these institutions. Objective: Stress is described as a state of physiological unevenness. Albeit contemporary education sector in an eminent country such as India where regular jobs become penurious obsolete perhaps people still accord in this sector because of their interest in the teaching. On the contrary, most of the new faculty work on contract basis and their jobs are not secured or may be secured for a few months depending upon the contract period. A repercussion of this probe, the purpose of the exploration is to review job satisfaction level and their retention rate. Design/Methodology/Approach: Study has been conducted with the help of non-probability convenient sampling by distributing questionnaires and conducting interviews on 150 faculty members working on a contract basis in government and private engineering and management colleges surrounding near an area of Gurdaspur district of Punjab, India. Findings/Result: Personnel policies, faculty development, career growth, research support and work culture, all these parameters should clearly have considered by the administration of the engineering and management colleges of district Gurdaspur, Punjab during making any policies for the contact faculty in the future so that their satisfaction level and retention rate won’t be affected. Research limitations/implications: Research has been conducted in Gurdaspur district of Punjab. Findings may vary from other geographical area of country. Study only covers faculty members; non-teaching faculty has not been covered in this study. Time constraint is another factor for the limiting sample size. Originality/New knowledge/Interpretation/Value: Paradoxical to previous studies, this study also tests out the connection between anxiety feeling with job security of contract faculty dwelling in engineering colleges of Punjab, India with the aid of a stress model to assess the future of teaching in rural areas. Paper Type: Analytical Research paper

Driving is believing: Using telepresence robots to access makerspace for teachers in rural areas

AbstractThis study explored two different ways for K‐12 school teachers to access educational makerspace through virtual fieldtrips. K‐12 school teachers from rural areas of the Southeast USA were divided into two groups. The experimental group (n = 48) drove telepresence robots to take their fieldtrip, while the comparison group (n = 23) watched the same fieldtrip through a recorded video. Analyses of the quantitative and qualitative data, collected through surveys and written reflections, showed that the experimental group reported significantly higher scores in embodiment, social presence and engagement (ie, behaviour, emotion and cognition) than the comparison group, and that actual driving the robots for the virtual fieldtrips was highlighted as a favored experience. Educational significance and implications are discussed. Practitioner notesWhat is currently known about this topic With makerspaces gaining increasing attention in K‐12 education, professional development (PD) opportunities are needed to help teachers understand makerspaces and related technologies. Teachers in rural areas are faced with the challenges of accessing makerspace resources and opportunities, especially during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Little research has explored teacher makerspace PD in rural areas. Maker resource deficiency in rural areas and the COVID‐19 pandemic call for an alternative approach to the makerspace PD, particularly for teachers in rural areas. What this paper adds Explored the use of telepresence robots for rural teachers to access an authentic makerspace through virtual fieldtrips. Examined the effects of virtual fieldtrip to access makerspaces on K‐12 teachers' embodiment, social presence and engagement. Examined the aspects of the telepresence fieldtrip that were most valuable to K‐12 teachers. Investigated the factors that contribute to teachers' engagement in a virtual fieldtrip. Implications for practitioners Telepresence robot was an effective tool that enabled teachers in rural areas to explore authentic makerspaces through a virtual trip over distance. To help teachers conceptualize the idea of makerspace, it is important to allow teachers to move in the physical makerspace and interact with the environment. To design an engaging fieldtrip that triggers active learning, more attention should be given to how to develop the emotional aspect of a fieldtrip experience. Embodiment plays an important role in virtual fieldtrips. When teachers have a higher level of embodiment, they are more likely to be emotionally and cognitively engaged in a fieldtrip experience.

English Teachers’ Conceptualizations of Key Competencies in English Language Teaching and Challenges to Their Implementation

Limited empirical research on the key competencies of front-line English teachers, particularly primary and middle school English teachers in rural regions, exists in the current literature. This research focuses on front-line instructors and examines their mastery of the key competencies in English language teaching. Through in-depth interviews, this paper examined eight rural junior middle school English teachers on their understanding of developing students’ key competencies in English language teaching, as well as the obstacles and challenges they experienced in curriculum implementation. The study found that although front-line teachers have a positive attitude toward the key competencies, there is still a certain gap between their comprehension of key competencies and policy requirements and practical demands. In order to implement core qualities and effectively promote curriculum reform, we need to strengthen teacher development training for front-line English teachers, especially for primary and secondary school English teachers in rural areas, to improve their understanding and professionalization of the new round of curriculum reform.

Teaching English as a foreign language to rural education students

The purpose of this study was to focus on the perspectives, problems, and suggestions of rural EFL teachers while teaching English to students in rural areas. This cross-sectional study aimed to identify the factors affecting students' motivation to learn English in the rural area of Ponce Enriquez. The technique used was a survey. The primary outcome was to understand from the students' perceptions the elements that impact the lack of motivation and the value of learning a foreign language. In addition, this study found that the main obstacles faced by EFL teachers in rural locations were students' low enthusiasm for learning English. As a result, the participants made joint recommendations to English teachers in rural areas.

Attitude towards the Teaching Profession: The Secondary School Teachers’ Outlook

Investigated in this study is the attitude of secondary school teachers towards the teaching profession. Survey design was adopted for the study and three research questions guided the study. The sample of the study comprises of all the 55 secondary school teachers of Senior Secondary 2 (SS2) in urban and rural schools, in Awka South Local Government Area, Anambra State. The instrument for data collection was a 20 item questionnaire developed by the researchers. The data collected was analyzed by computing mean and standard deviation. The findings of the study revealed that the majority of the secondary school teachers possessed positive attitude towards the teaching profession. It was also found that the female secondary school teachers had more positive attitude towards the profession than the male secondary school teachers. Furthermore, the secondary school teachers in urban areas had higher positive attitude than the secondary school teachers in rural areas. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that both the government and teacher organization should see to the training, retraining and motivation of secondary school teachers. If they are well-trained and motivated, they will be more committed and learning will be enhanced.

EFL teachers’ online teaching in rural schools during the COVID-19 pandemic: Stories from Indonesia

The implementation of online English instruction in remote areas during the COVID-19 pandemic, which mandates school closures, remains unknown, especially given these areas’ reputation for inadequate educational facilities. Additionally, the preparations, implementation, and challenges experienced by English as a Foreign Language (henceforth, EFL) teachers in rural areas remain unclear. This study therefore aimed at exploring the experiences of EFL teachers in rural areas on (1) their readiness for conducting online teaching, (2) their implementation of online teaching, and (3) the challenges during the implementation of online teaching due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The research was conducted in Indonesia with eight English teachers in rural schools. This study was a qualitative study that employed a phenomenological study approach and used semi-structured interviews to collect the data. The findings indicate that EFL teachers, during this pandemic time, were able to conduct fully online English teaching because they possessed sufficient knowledge of English instruction using technology. Additionally, these teachers might leverage various technologies and adapt those tools to transform their usual face-to-face English instruction into online instruction. Nonetheless, these teachers in rural schools frequently encountered challenges with internet connectivity, student-owned technology devices, student enthusiasm, and student netiquette when enrolling in online English teaching. Additionally, this article discusses some practical considerations for implementing online English teaching during a pandemic.

Professional Identity of Normal University Directional Training Students for Being Teachers in Rural Areas

The professional identity and teaching intention of normal university students who took a targeted training program for certain areas were analyzed by using a questionnaire survey and unstructured interviews. After graduation, the students who completed the targeted training program become teachers in rural areas. The students attended a university in Jiangsu Province, China and majord geography during 2016−2019. The results showed that the students had a certain degree of professional identity and gradually deepened their knowledge in college training. However, their professional identity and improvement degree were lower than those of students who did not take the targeted training program. 27.33% of the students with the targeted training program chose to work in the rural areas after the mandatory service period. In the process of the targeted training program, we proposed to improve the publicity of the program, optimize the training system, and raise the payment to ensure their continuous work even after the mandatory period.

Research on the Effective Ways of Education to Promote Rural Revitalization in Liaoning: Based on the Perspective of the Training Model of Outstanding Rural Teachers

The training of outstanding rural teachers has become an important strategic deployment of Chinese rural teacher support plan and teacher education reform. "Outstanding rural teachers" means "training teachers with outstanding potential, teaching in rural areas and having rural education feelings". Grasp the key characteristics of outstanding rural teachers, explore theoretically constructing the outstanding rural teacher training system, expand and innovate training methods in practice, analyze the risks of outstanding rural teacher training and response plans in order to fully implement the training of outstanding rural teachers with opening new ideas and exploring new methods.

Reflection on the Loss of Physical Education Teachers in Rural Schools of China

Nowadays, the gap between urban and rural physical education (PE) in China is gradually widening. It is mainly manifested in the loss of PE teachers in rural areas. It is important to understand and solve the problem of the loss of rural PE teachers. The purpose of this paper is to explore this problem and propose some strategies to solve this problem. This study mainly used the following methods—literature review, logical analysis, and expert interview. In this study, we found the following reason of the loss of rural PE teachers: The salary and benefit package received by rural PE teachers tend to be low comparing with the rural teacher of other subject matters (e.g., Chinese, Mathematics). This is one major reason that results in the major loss of PE teachers in rural schools of China. Teachers’ living and working conditions in rural schools tend to be low comparing with the conditions in urban schools. PE teachers in rural schools tend to be assigned more responsibilities/work to do (e.g., teaching other classes like math, Chinese in addition to PE) comparing with urban teachers. The marginalization of PE in Chinese school system is another reason for the loss of PE teachers. PE teachers are more likely to be marginalized in rural schools, which greatly reduces PE teacher’s enthusiasm on their teaching career. Here are some strategies that we think can help solve, at least alleviate, the PE teacher loss problem: The government needs to enact national policies regarding to improving the salary and benefit package of teachers, especially PE teachers, in rural school; universities need to increase their enrollment of students majoring in PE, which tends to be able to increase the number of PE teachers; national policies are needed to address the unequal treatments of teachers in school, so that PE teachers can have the same benefits and responsibilities with teachers of other subject matters; more professional development opportunities should be provided for in-service teachers, so that PE teachers can further pursuit their teaching career and maintain their teaching enthusiasm; necessary facilities and equipment need to be provided for PE teachers to effectively teach PE class and annual fund should be provided to support the renew of equipment and teaching; schools should develop fair, effective, and reasonable teacher assessment system. Unqualified/ineffective teachers should be laid off, so that effective and enthusiastic teacher can have opportunities to be hired.

Current Situation, Problems and Countermeasures of Professional Development of Middle School English Teachers in Rural Areas of Western China

Current Situation, Problems and Countermeasures of Professional Development of Middle School English Teachers in Rural Areas of Western China

THE INFLUENCE OF WORKING CONDITIONS ON TEACHERS’ RETENTION IN RURAL PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN SUMBAWANGA DISTRICT

The purpose of this study was to investigate “the influence of working conditions on teachers’ retention in rural public secondary schools in Sumbawanga District, Rukwa Tanzania.”. The study was guided by Herzberg’s Motivational Theory. This study adopted mixed research approach and convergent parallel research design. Questionnaire and interview were used as research tools to collect data from 93 respondents, whereby 87 teachers were sampled through stratified and simple random techniques, 5 heads of rural public secondary schools and 1 District Educational Officer was selected through purposive sampling technique. The quantitative data was analyzed through SPSS Version 20 and presented using tables, percentage, figures and frequencies, while qualitative data was analyzed through thematic analysis. The finding of this study showed that retention of teachers in Sumbawanga District was very low due to poor working conditions such as lack of professional development, high workload, poor accommodation along with safety and security, lack of social services and lack of enough teaching and learning materials. Also, the study recommends the need for the government through Ministry of Education and other educational stakeholders to cooperate in order to improve the retention rate of teachers in rural areas through creating a good working condition that will enable teachers to conduct the responsibilities effectively. Also, the government need to establish different motivational package to rural teachers which will motivate them to work in rural areas, by doing that they will not feel isolated.

Why can't rural schools retain young teachers? An analysis of the professional development of rural school teachers in China:Taking teachers in rural western China

The continuous shortage of teachers in rural schools in China has become an important issue affecting the balanced development of rural basic education. To investigate the shortage of young teachers in rural 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 NvivoT11 software. The findings show that the root cause of the shortage young teachers in rural 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 schools. Notably, By analyzing the shortage of rural school teachers we found that the nature of long-term shortage from teachers' self professional role transformation of knowledge, ability and emotional conflicts. To this end, we from the person's whole life development perspective of the whole put forward the method to thoroughly get rid of the dilemma of long-term, not through the passivity of adequate education human resource injection. But to get rid of poverty through the positive self-professional ability of rural school teachers. This concept is not only beneficial to alleviate the persistent poverty of subject teachers in short supply in rural schools, but also puts forward higher requirements for human development and growth. 1) China's rural education has been plagued by a chronic shortage of teachers in rural areas. 2) The chronic shortage of teachers for country music, physical education and art has brought serious problems to rural education. 3) Why does China often lose teachers to its rural supply each year. 4) What are the reasons why rural schools can't keep teachers. 5) How to Retain Teachers of Shortage Subject in Rural Schools.

Current Situation, Problems and Countermeasures of Professional Development of English Teachers in Rural Areas of Western China

Current Situation, Problems and Countermeasures of Professional Development of English Teachers in Rural Areas of Western China