Questing The Hidden Truth About Making Choices:A Qualitative Research On The Influential Factors In The Intention Of Entering Higher Schools Among Rural Junior Middle Students

With the advancement of popularization of high school education in China,issues of junior middle school students entering higher schools have raised concerns.Senior high school education actively provides qualified students for higher education while fundamentally shunts students in the compulsory education stage to general education and vocational education,and balanced and diversified development of the education needs to be matched by the equality of opportunities and freedom of choice of individuals in entering higher schools.Two-thirds of junior middle school students in China are in rural areas,therefore,issues of rural junior middle school students ought to be concerned when popularizing senior high school education.Regarding the significant gap between the enrollment rate of urban and rural high schools and the fact that rural junior middle school students make up the majority of enrollment of secondary vocational education,whether there is a contradiction between the status quo and intention of entering higher schools among rural junior middle school students and the way the rural students view the relevant issues urges us to quest the hidden truth and open the black box of psychological behavior.This study starts with the research on psychological behavior on individual educational choice of rural junior middle school students as the starting point,adopting qualitative research methods,exploring the influential factors in the intention of entering higher schools among rural junior middle students from the perspective of own discourse and cognition of subjects.On the basis of the observations and interviews,this study selected School N in Nanjing as a sample.After arriving at the site,17 rural junior middle school students were selected as research subjects for in-depth interviews via pre-interviews and participative observations.The record of interviews and observations and other data were recorded and sorted,coded and generically defined,systematically analyzed and tested,in order to present the individual and environmental factors affecting intention of entering higher schools of subjects,and discuss the interaction mechanism of the specific factors and the space for their respective functions from various aspects considering expectancy-value theory and social support theory.The conclusion of this study is therefore carried out.1.The intention of entering higher schools of rural junior middle school students is jointly influenced by individual factors and environmental factors:The individual factors include the judgment of the value of entering higher schools and the expected outcomes of entering higher schools;the environmental factors include peer factors,school factors and family factors.2.Expected value constitutes subject cognition,which is a direct factor influencing the intention of entering higher schools of rural junior middle school students.Expectancy includes expectancy of success and ability beliefs.They represent whether individuals believe that they can ultimately and that they have the ability managing to achieve their intention of entering higher schools.Value includes attainment value,intrinsic value,utility value and the corresponding cost.They represent individuals' judgment on the importance of entering higher schools,judgment on the relevance of entering higher schools to their current or future goals,judgement on subjective interest and intrinsic motivation in entering higher schools and judgment on the costs,time,and energy required when entering higher schools respectively.3.Environmental factors indirectly affect intention of entering higher schools of rural junior middle students mainly through influencing expetancy value indrectly.The active channels include the expectancy transfer,emotional support and information support of subjects namely peers,schools,teachers and parents.Specifically,expectancy from others influence individuals'expectancy beliefs and value judgment,and the respective sources include parental expectancy on obtaining education,expectancy on identity of teachers,peers' intention of entering higher schools and the rank of a certain school in regional environment.Emotional support affects individual expectancy beliefs,and the respective sources include the evaluation methods adopted in a certain school,parental emotional support,emotional support from teachers and leading effect from peers.Information support affects individuals,value judgment,and the respective sources include the supply of information about enrollments from schools,the outcomes of behavioral selection from peers and the explosure of parents' attitudes towards entering higher schools.Based on conclusions above,this research constructs a theoretical model of the factors affecting intention of entering higher schools of rural junior middle school students and puts forward research proposals:First,the supply structure must be adjusted,and the intention of entering ordinary senior high schools of rural junior middle school students must be heard.Second,the balance between further education and employment must be considered,and the value expectancy on secondary vocational education of rural junior middle school students must be met.Third,the guidance of further education must be enhanced,and the scarcity of information resources of rural junior middle school students must be eliminated.Finally,emotional support must be emphasized,and the expectancy beliefs of entering higher schools of rural junior middle school students will therefore be confirmed.This study expands the related theories of educational choices,providing the psychological and behavioral explanation of individual education choices for existing studieson the one hand.On the other hand,the study kicks off from the perspective of education needs of rural junior middle school students,offering a policy basis for advancing the popularization of education at the senior high school level and promoting educational equity.It also provides reference on paying attention to the psychological behaviors related to educational choices of rural junior middle school students and implementing corresponding interventions for various subjects.