Attractive infrastructure and ideological challenge as reasons for retention of rural teachers / Infraestructura atractiva y desafío ideológico como factores de retención del profesorado rural

Abstract

This case study was aimed at assessing the factors influencing the motivation for hiring and retaining rural schoolteachers using the example of Chinese educational practice. To achieve the goal, a survey was conducted among teachers of rural schools in China (n = 119). The survey evaluated: factors affecting teachers’ decisions to continue teaching in a rural school; factors that determine teachers’ willingness to work in a rural school; factors of rural schoolteachers’ satisfaction with their workplace environment, as closely related to their retention. Analysis of the portion of the questionnaire evaluating factors that influenced teachers’ decisions to work in a rural school (Cronbach’s alpha = .608) and satisfaction with the workplace environment as a retention motivator for a rural school (Cronbach’s alpha = .807) suggests a fairly strong internal consistency of the above drivers. This implies that the factors contributing to more successful teacher recruitment are not the same as the factors affecting the long-term decision to stay in a rural school. Though a teacher can be hired by leveraging available social capital, community and classroom are important contributors to retaining such teachers in the workplace. The study postulates the need for sustainable teaching staff for rural schools and contributes to the literature on the assessment of teacher recruitment and retention factors in rural areas.