Research On The Motivation Of Teachers’ Professional Development In Rural Areas

Rural teachers’ professional development is the key to the quality of rural elementary education.It also becomes the critical infactor for the rural education development. In recent years, the governmenthas made education policy in favor of rural education. The rural education problems change better.However, there are some problems: the shortage of teachers, low quality of teachers, the acute loss ofexcellent teachers and the decline in the quality of rural primary and junior secondary education. How toimprove rural teacher quality, therefore, has become a pressing problem to deal with. This study willexplore the factors that contribute to the teacher professional development in rural schools by means ofinvestigating the current situation of teacher professional development and the history of professionaldevelopment in rural schools.With the analysis of relevant literature, this research surveies200rural teachers. In the survey, sixrural teachers and a rural principal received in-depth interviews. Through the investigation, it gainsknowledge of the current situation of teacher professional development in rural schools. Based on that, itfurther discusses dominant factors that influence qualification of rural teachers in different stages. Thisstudy also gives some suggestions and solutions for the improvement of professional development of ruralteachers in line with national reform measures.Findings:1.As to newly recruited teachers in the initial stage, their professional level is quite low. Theylack confidence in teaching and meeting students’ needs, and their satisfaction with professionalrecognition and teaching remains low. With lack of support and guide in professional development, most ofthem do not know how to improve their own teaching. In the professional adjustment and maturation stages,the satisfaction with professional recognition and teaching is higher. With the accumulation of teachingexperience, teachers in this stage show more competencies in areas of professional knowledge, teachingcapacity, meeting students’ needs and improvement of teaching. Nevertheless, it is probable for teachers inthis stage to pay little attention to teaching reflection.2.The school leadership gives priority to teachers’ professional development; however, there arefew sufficient effective protective measures in the practice. The leadership makes insufficient efforts toprovide teachers with sound learning environment, the opportunities of cooperation and communication with experts and professional training, thereby resulting in the low satisfaction of teachers. In addition,most teachers question the fairness of evaluation on reward-and-punishment system and professional titles.3.In the initial teaching stage, rural teachers’ professional development mainly depend onworking conditions and environment, teacher-student relationships, recognition and respect by leaders, fairreward-punishment system, colleague relationships and opportunities for training. When workingcondition and environment, salaries and welfares match teachers’ expectations, they can take teachingpositively; otherwise they would quit and choose other jobs. In the adjustment stage of professionaldevelopment, the decisive factors are work interests, salaries, welfares, fair reward-punishment system,recognition and respect by leaders and time and resources provided by school for professional development.Work interest is an inside incitement of the start of teaching career and future d development, while fairtreatment and management system is outside protection, avoiding resignation of teachers. In the maturationstage, the dominant contributors are respect by leaders, fair reward system, opportunities for training andeducation and school management system. Therefore, schools should focus on teachers’ education and fairmanagement system, increase teachers’ salaries, improve their welfares and respect their efforts.This study puts forward some suggestions and measures on how to improve rural teachers’professional development as follows. The Administrative Department of Education can regard ruralteachers’ professional development as the breakthrough of rural education development, make practicaleducation policy for the sake of rural teachers’ professional development and ensure its implementation.The department can also make target plans and strategies for improving professional development withreference to the need for rural teachers’ professional development in different stages. Furthermore, it canprompt rural teachers’ professional development in consideration of teacher personality. Finally, it cancontinue to conduct practical research in teacher professional development in rural schools, which canprovide theoretical guide for rural education development.