Download pdf
Analysis of the Impact of the "Rural Teacher Support Program" Policy on Educational Equity in China
- 1 University of London
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
In China, educational equity is a significant public concern. To address the urban-rural educational gap, the government launched the "Rural Teacher Support Programme." This paper analyzes the policy's impact on educational equity, detailing its background, objectives, and implementation measures. It assesses the programme's effectiveness in enhancing rural education quality, narrowing the educational divide, and boosting rural students' learning engagement. The research also identifies challenges in implementation, including teacher training, career development, cultural differences, and teacher composition disparities. Recommendations include promoting digitalization, increasing joint funding, and optimizing teacher incentives. Findings reveal notable improvements in the rural teaching workforce, including increased teacher numbers, quality, and living conditions, alongside enhanced stability and professional development opportunities. However, disparities in policy effectiveness persist across provinces, with local governments showing bias in policy tool application, particularly in recruiting and training arts educators. Overall, the programme has successfully diversified policy tools to improve rural teacher retention.
Keywords
Educational equity, Rural teacher support programs, Urban-rural education gap, Incentive mechanisms for rural teachers, Revitalization of rural education
[1]. Liu, J. (2021). The implementation effectiveness and policy implications of the Support Plan for Rural Teachers: An analysis based on a survey of three provinces and nine counties in eastern, central, and western China. Contemporary Teacher Education.
[2]. Wang, Y. (2023). Changing and unchanging factors influencing rural teachers' turnover intentions: A comparison before and after the implementation of the Support Plan for Rural Teachers in Yunnan Province (2015-2020). Journal of East China Normal University (Educational Sciences), 41(9), 85.
[3]. Zhu, X., Liu, S., & Wang, S. (2022). Policies, execution traps, and reform logic of rural teacher workforce construction under the background of rural revitalization. Journal of East China Normal University (Educational Science Edition), 6, 16-28.
[4]. Jiang, J., Tian, M., & Yang, Y. (2020). The Support Plan for Rural Teachers from the perspective of policy tools: A quantitative analysis based on 31 provincial-level policy documents. Journal of Teacher Education, 7(6), 92-102.
[5]. Qin, Z., & Zou, P. (2017). Implementation paths of rural teacher programs from the perspective of educational equity. Basic Education Forum, (2), 7-9.
[6]. Tan, H., Wan, X., & Huang, J. (2021). A mixed-methods study on the evaluation of educational poverty alleviation policy implementation: A case study of the "Rural Teacher Support Program" in County J. Journal of Education.
[7]. Wang, & Li. (2021). Policies, implementation traps, and reform logic of rural teacher development under the rural revitalization strategy. Educational Science Press.
Cite this article
Li,M. (2025). Analysis of the Impact of the "Rural Teacher Support Program" Policy on Educational Equity in China. Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public Media,80,50-55.
Data availability
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.
Disclaimer/Publisher's Note
The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of EWA Publishing and/or the editor(s). EWA Publishing and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content.
About volume
Volume title: Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Global Politics and Socio-Humanities
© 2024 by the author(s). Licensee EWA Publishing, Oxford, UK. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. Authors who
publish this series agree to the following terms:
1. Authors retain copyright and grant the series right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this
series.
2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the series's published
version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial
publication in this series.
3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and
during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See
Open access policy for details).