Research On Teacher Supply To Small Schools In Rural China

Since the school merging reform of "demolishing rural schools and gathering rural students into urban schools" was suspended in 2012,the construction of small schools in rural areas has been resumed,marching towards the standardized development of schools offering compulsory education.According to the latest "Guidelines of the General Office of the State Council on Comprehensively Reinforcing the Construction of Small Rural Schools and Township Boarding Schools" and the "Opinions of Ministry of Education,Organization Department of the Central Communist Party Committee,National Development and Reform Commission,Ministry of Finance,and Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security on Strengthening the Development of Teachers in Rural Areas in the New Era" and other relevant policy documents,the Communist Party and the State have realized the importance of developing small schools in rural areas,which is the key for the education in rural China.To address the problem,the supply of teachers remains crucial.The shortage of teachers in small rural schools is explicitly manifested in the lack of teachers in different disciplines and classes.It is also common to see one teacher instructing multiple disciplines,with an appalling short of teachers in music,sports,and fine arts.Plus,the drainage of teachers has perpetuated the scarcity of teachers in rural schools,etc.Small schools located in remote and economically underdeveloped areas are affected by natural environment,economic development,transportation,and the manning quotas for teachers.Unlike those in cities and towns,the supply of teachers in villages is confronted with particularities and more outstanding challenges and difficulties to manage.The supply of teachers in small rural schools,as a matter of fact,involves many subjects,including normal universities,the job market,the government,and small rural schools,etc.It encompasses multiple procedures of provision,covering the initial supply,which is the cultivation and employment of teachers,and the secondary supply,namely,the professional growth and the rooted development of teachers,and so on.The chain includes labor(i.e.teacher resources),technology(i.e.the training capacity),land and natural environment(i.e.,rural social environment support),capital(i.e.job market of teachers),policy and management(i.e.policy and management of teacher supply).The superposition of many complex variables makes it significantly more difficult to supply small schools with more teachers in rural areas.From 1949 to the present,there have been three stages in the historical development of small rural schools’ layout and demolition & integration,including the "random expansion period" from 1949 to 1995,the "rapid shrinking period" from 1995 to 2012,and finally the "slow recovery period" since 2012.After the founding of People’s Republic of China(PRC),the supply path of primary school teachers in rural areas can also be studied from three historical stages,including the establishment of PRC in 1949,the reform and opening up in 1978,and the entry into a new era in 2017.The supply path has its own features at different stages.Specifically,the policy evolution of the teacher manning system is divided into 3 stages,including the period of "setting individualized posts with priority to cities and towns" from 1984 to 2000,the period of "setting posts based on educational needs with an emphasis on cities and towns" from 2001 to 2010,and the period of granting "limited posts against the backdrop of urban and rural integration".The cancellation of policies,such as the cultivation of students in secondary normal school and publicly funded normal school,targeted nurture of normal school student,teachers for special posts and on-the-post internships,is also closely related to the supply of teachers in small rural schools.Theoretically,supply would automatically create demand in an ideally competitive market.The new supply theory further revised this theoretical model based on the stimulus of supply to demand,underlining that the actual environment refers to an imperfectly competitive market where policies and other elements are taken to optimize the supply.Based on the principle of educational equity,the compulsory education in most small rural schools is weak,and students fit into the relatively disadvantaged group.The demand for teachers in villages should not only meet the minimum teacher-student ratio stipulated by the government due to the small number of students and weak economic conditions of rural areas.On the contrary,preferential treatment should be granted to the rural areas and increase the supply of teachers so as to automatically generate educational needs.Meanwhile,policies should be leveraged to moderate the teacher supply formula for the pursuit of quality,efficient,and modern education in rural China.To verify the theoretical analysis and get hold of the supply status quo,questionnaire surveys,interviews,participatory observations,case studies and literature studies are taken as the research methods for data collection & analysis.The interviewees included managers of education bureaus at all levels,principals and personnel-in-charge,and teachers of small rural schools.In total,1,200 questionnaires were distributed to 211 small rural schools in many cities across multiple provinces.For the purpose of this case study,2 small rural schools were selected for participatory observation,including schools with all grades at primary level and those offering only a few grades.A comprehensive analysis shows that:(1)The ten factors for the supply of teachers in small rural schools are: teacher training,teaching qualifications,teacher manning system,supplementary policies of teachers,salary,transportation,living conditions,career expectations,job burnout,competitiveness of the teaching profession compared with other professions.Dilemma can be seen on the reality,policies and modernization.(2)The undersupply of teachers in small rural schools is attributed to the shortage of qualified labor,the lack of sound policies,and the insufficient innovative capacity in the society.Firstly,the labor supply constraints in the supply of teachers in small schools cannot be overlooked in rural areas,which are mainly reflected in the lack of practicality,professionalism,and continuity in the supply of teachers,and the uneven allocation of quality teachers in schools.Small schools in rural areas are often confronted with a series of problems,such as the mismatch of disciplines and teachers,the insufficient ratio of teachers for each discipline and class,the agglomeration of quality teachers to top schools and schools in urban areas,the out-of-stock of young teachers,etc.Secondly,the supply of teachers in small schools is inhibited by institutional policies.The design of the teacher manning system is "tilted towards urban areas",the distribution of teacher manning quotas is "limited by posts",and the structure of the teacher manning system remains disorganized,with only low efficacy delivered.Thirdly,the modern innovation of teacher supply in small rural schools is insufficient,with technological innovation lagging behind.The old-fashioned rural society was gradually shattered by modernization.Inevitably,deprived of the support of rural society,education in rural areas also declined gradually.At the same time,the poor innovative capacity of rural education also constrained China’s modernization.The unbalanced nature of modern technological innovation abilities has deteriorated the isolation for rural and urban areas while widening the gap of educational development in between.Tracing the root cause,the supply of production factors inhibited the initial supply of teachers in small rural schools,the policy and management restricted the secondary supply of teachers in such schools,and the slow modernization progress in villages led to the aging of the supply structure in small rural schools.As far as the initial supply is concerned,the technicality of teacher training in small rural schools needs to be improved.Furthermore,the rigid teacher manning system,the incomplete professional development mechanism,and the immature career development environment in rural areas all contributed to the shortage of teachers in rural areas.From the perspective of secondary supply,the coordination of teacher supply policies is insufficient,the management mechanism of teacher supply chaotic and the cost of teacher supply fairly high.In terms of the supply structure,the slow progress on modernization in villages led to the insufficient support to education,which calls for rapid development.Worse still,the imbalanced administration has further widened the gap between urban and rural education,and given the economic gap,excellent teachers tend to flock to towns and cities.Modern technology,at this stage,fails to bring full play to its innovative capabilities,making it barely possible to address the insufficient supply of teachers in small rural schools in the immediate future.The insufficient supply of teachers in small rural schools is a complex problem steeped in the multiple systems and across various levels in the society,which should be addressed by developing sound policies,providing quality labor and technological innovation.Only by breaking the constraints of teacher supply in small rural schools via enhancing policy innovation capacity can we wean off the dependence on the design of teacher manning system.The independent supply of teacher manning system would facilitate the fair distribution of educational resources.The clarification of policies would optimize the structure of teacher manning system.The verification mechanism should also be innovated to improve the effectiveness of the manning system.Factors contributing to the suppression on teachers’ supply to small rural schools should be dissected.The prioritized development of rural teachers should be taken as the concept of precise supplement.A database of teacher and agreement framework covering all subjects should be built.Based on the needs of each subject,the recruitment standards of teachers coordinating subjects and teachers should be developed.The "dynamic granting of manning quota" should be implemented.In the meantime,teacher’s social security system featuring the admission,resignation,training& further education,increase in wages should be established.The modernization of rural areas should be propelled to reform the teacher supply structure in small rural schools.In addition,household registration system-bound benefits should be weakened to reduce the negative social impact on the supply of teachers in small rural schools.Rural industries need to be innovated to offset the economic defects of the supply of teachers in small rural schools.The synergy among government,job market and schools should be strengthened to nurture teachers and jointly increase the stock of teachers in rural areas,addressing the insufficient secondary supply of teachers in small rural schools seamlessly with information technology innovation.