Year: 2020
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Retaining quality teachers in rural areas is a global and growing concern. Teacher wellbeing plays a crucial role in teacher quality because quality teachers require optimal functioning and wellbeing to teach well. Teachers in rural China are disadvantaged compared to their urban counterparts in relation to working conditions, remuneration and access to professional development opportunities. Yet, many rural teachers excel in the teaching profession. \nThis study serves to contribute to an in-depth understanding of rural teacher wellbeing in China. This is the first study of its kind that investigates rural Chinese teachers’ subjective, psychological and professional wellbeing, characterized from the views of eastern Confucian cultural values, which supplements the applicability of western theory and makes a significant and original contribution to knowledge. The purpose of this study is to identify the factors that contribute to rural teachers’ optimal wellbeing, and discern what wellbeing means to rural teachers in China. This study uses an Appreciative Inquiry (AI) approach which deviates from a traditional focus on remediating stress and incorporates a Chinese Confucian cultural context to examine teachers’ wellbeing through a self-determination theoretical lens. The present study was undertaken in the rural province of Jilin and adopts an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design. The initial qualitative phase includes ten semi-structured interviews. The subsequent quantitative phase is via online survey with 1198 participants. The findings from these two phases will conceptualize teachers’ wellbeing based on Self-Determination Theory’s (SDT) basic psychological needs. Furthermore, rural Chinese teachers’ wellbeing will be conceptualized based on Confucianism, to reveal that Confucian culture is compatible with SDT psychological needs theory. This thesis will argue that SDT can be utilized within the Chinese cultural context, and thus can assist in developing deeper understandings about rural teachers’ wellbeing in China. This study will advance the knowledge on teacher wellbeing in rural China. It will enable policy makers and subsequently school systems to refocus strategies, actions and interventions in order to address teachers’ wellbeing that will in turn lead to positive educational outcomes for students. This study will also contribute to the international literature on schools and their effectiveness, and importantly will highlight that further research on culturally integrated teacher wellbeing is needed.
Author: Cui Bo
Language: English
Topic: Education in Rural Contexts
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3107293707