| Nowadays,it is difficult to recruit and retain teachers in rural primary and secondary school.To a certain extent,these problems have affected the improvement of the level of teaching staff in rural primary and secondary schools,having a further impact on the quality of rural basic education and the balanced development of urban and rural education.Therefore,it is necessary to cultivate a large number of outstanding teachers for rural area.In 2007,the State Council decided to implement free education for normal students in normal universities directly under the Ministry of Education(MOE),stipulating that these normal students should serve in rural compulsory education schools for two years.In 2018,MOE changed the free education policy to the publicly-funded education policy,and the service was changed to one year.Under the guidance of the public-funded education policy,local governments begin to train normal students in provincial normal universities.At present,a total of thirty provinces in China have been implementing publicly-funded education for local normal students.The education policy for publicly-funded normal students implemented by the provincial normal universities of S Province is aimed to train teachers for rural primary and secondary schools.Through the process,it finds that the vast majority of normal students that are publicly-funded will teach in basic education but the proportion to rural schools is not high.Though these normal students have known the rules in this publicly-funded policy,it is obvious that they have a significant difference in behavior choices towards to this policy.This study introduces the concept of teaching intention,focusing on the process how these normal students recognize and understand this publicly-funded policy,and how to make the behavioral choice based on its rules.The target covers from freshman to senior year to compare their performance levels in different stages of teaching intention.Based on the core concept of teaching intention,especially the intention to teach in rural primary and secondary schools,this study aims to explore the following questions.First,what is the overall situation of the rural school teaching intention of publicly-funded normal students? Second,how does the rural school teaching intention change from the beginning to the end of this education project?Third,what are the factors that affect the rural school teaching intention and how does they play their roles?Around the above problems,combined with the expectation-value theory and the social cognitive career theory,the research constructed an analysis rural school teaching intention and influencing factors framework based on the whole participation of publicly-funded normal students.The research tools are made according to this framework.Totally,there are 3,180 students from seventeen colleges and universities in S Province participating in the questionnaire survey,and thirty-eight students conducting the in-depth interview.Based on the analysis,the following research findings can be drawn.First,the intention of publicly-funded normal students to engage in the rural teaching profession is generally not high.Nearly a quarter of them expressed reluctance to pursue a career as rural teachers.About a quarter were uncertain.Among those intent to accept rural teaching,a significant proportion of students admit that this behavior is a result of compromise,meaning that they may abandon rural teaching once more suitable employment opportunities are available.Second,in the whole process,the rural teaching intention of normal students has shown a downward trend.It is high when they applied for this project,while reduced before they found jobs.Third,within the group of publicly-funded normal students,male people,those having rural nationality,low-educated parents and low-income families,students having a lower academic level in schools,and being employed in their original place,are more intent to accept rural teaching.Fourth,from the perspective of influencing factors,in addition to the sense of teaching effectiveness,the expectation of career results and the job market environment,the factors of the training process and the motivation for applying for the project all have an impact on the rural school teaching intention of normal students.The career choice of being rural teachers is the result of a two-way person-job fit.The sense of teaching effectiveness and the expectation of career results have a significant impact on the rural school teaching intention.At the same time,the job market environment directly affects the teaching intention.The training process factors,such as the professional support,the quality of career education,and the pertinence in rural teacher training,will indirectly affect the rural school teaching intention through the sense of teaching effectiveness and the expectation of career results.In addition,career choice is an ongoing process.The initial motivation to apply for the project will have a lasting impact on rural school teaching intention.The social responsibility motivation and the individual interest motivation have a significant positive impact,while the career attraction motivation and the unmotivated state have a significant negative impact.The policy attraction motivation also has a significant positive impact as expected by the policy.It should be emphasized that some normal students applying for this project is to obtain policy benefits,which brings potential risks to the rural teaching of normal students.The study puts forward the following suggestions to improve the rural school teaching intention of normal students that are publicly-funded.First,it is necessary to improve the teaching environment and welfare benefits,ensuring that rural teachers have opportunities for development.Second,it is important to extend the attention to the rural school teaching intention to the process of education and training,optimizing curriculum settings,attaching importance to practical links,and strengthening the construction of professional ethics.Third,it could be better to improve the public-funded education policy for normal students,Optimize the admissions process,setting up opportunities for secondary employment choice,implementing post-job guarantees and incentives,and properly solving problems in the situation where they pursue graduate study before the contracts performing.Furthermore,it is also necessary to strengthen moral cultivation to let normal students have a right attitude towards to rural teaching. |
