What Makes Teachers Stay: Factors Influencing Teacher Retention in Rural China

• In Event: Poster session I
  In Poster Session: Poster session 1

Proposal

Education in rural China is faced with increasing challenges as rural society are marginalized by speeding urbanization (Xu & Law, 2015). Among complex issues affecting rural-regional sustainability, the attraction and retention of high-quality teachers remain critical (Reid et al., 2010). The purpose of this project was to explore special motivations, actions, emotions, and dilemmas of teachers in the dynamics of rural society, and thus to understand the barriers and supports for rural teachers’ career development. The more specific goals were to detect motivations for long-term stay in rural schools and the effectiveness of certain policy efforts in providing backups.

Challenges of retaining teachers in rural regions identified by scholars includes lower payment, geographic and social isolation, difficult working conditions, and lack of professional support (Hammer et al., 2003). In rural China, many new teachers come and go within short period, and even lifelong-committed rural educators may constantly experience weariness and lassitude (Zhang & Lin, 2014). Meanwhile, “teacher attitude” and “maturity and experience” of teachers are highlighted as key factors in successful rural teaching (Jarzabkowski, 2003). To better recruit and support rural teachers, China has seen increasing policy efforts in the past decade, including attracting young teachers with “Specially-set-post” program, encouraging urban-rural teacher exchange, and improving salaries and compensations (GOSC, 2015). Although researches on rural teacher retention has shown current situations and practical strategies of retaining teachers, few delve into the cultural and social lives of rural teachers and examine the dynamics that make them survive and suffer.

This study located the entwined issues in a micro-scale case study of rural schools in Inner Mongolia, China. Mixed methods were adopted, with data collected using questionnaires administered to 138 teachers across 6 rural schools, and semi-structured interviews conducted with 15 teachers, administrators and 6 principles. Structural equation modeling approach was used as the quantitative analytical framework. Constructs include years of teaching, turnover intention, salary, working conditions, and professional training experiences with each of them containing several indicators. Interviews of teachers are designed to provide narrative details on the motivations for long-term stay. Separate interviews are designed for principles and administrators to analyze and evaluate policy effectiveness.

The results of structural model showed extrinsic factors such as salary, work conditions, professional resources are negatively related to teachers’ turnover intention. However, analysis of narrative data from interviews indicates intrinsic factors such as familiarity with rural context, emotional attachment and positive attitudes toward the profession, and close teacher-student relationship contributed to motivations and long-term commitment to rural teaching. Policy analysis showed that “Specially-set-post” recruiting program and teacher swap system continuously brought non-local teachers to rural school, which adds fresh air and improves pedagogies for certain periods, but were seldomly successful in retaining them. One intriguing finding was that, despite unfavorable rural environment, teachers who survived decades in teaching there attained great self-fulfillment and sense of responsibility from the collective recognitions of rural agencies. This indicated the importance of developing positive attitudes and familiarities with rural community and culture in long-term rural teacher retention.

Authors

• Aidi Bian, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Mengya Qu, Teachers College