Analysis on the Existing Main Problems and Countermeasures of Rural Education

At the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee, the party put forward the 14th five year plan and the long-term goal of 2035, it put forward that we should not only give priority to the development of agriculture and rural areas and comprehensively promote rural revitalization, but also strive to build an educational power, improve farmers' scientific, technological and cultural literacy and promote the revitalization of rural talents. Human resources are the first resource for China's economic and social development, and education is the main way to develop human resources. Rural Revitalization needs talent revitalization, which is inseparable from the revitalization of rural education. However, there are still some problems to be solved in rural education. This paper combs the problems existing in the school running conditions, teachers, family education, education quality, local culture and the development status of rural vocational education, analyzes the causes of the problems, and puts forward the countermeasures for the development of rural education. Such as increasing investment in Education funds, strengthening the construction of school standardization; Improving the economic treatment and social status of rural teachers, strengthening the construction of rural teachers and enhancing their sense of rural belonging; Strengthening the role of family education and sharing the responsibilities of vulnerable groups; Improving the quality of education and creating local characteristic courses; Vigorously developing rural vocational education. Through these measures, we can promote the healthy and sustainable development of rural education. At the same time, the government, society, schools and families need to work together to attach great importance to and strive to solve the problems existing in rural education. Therefore, this article combs the problems existing in rural education and seeks solutions in order to help the rapid development of rural education.

Analysis on the Existing Main Problems and Countermeasures of Rural Education

At the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee, the party put forward the 14th five year plan and the long-term goal of 2035, it put forward that we should not only give priority to the development of agriculture and rural areas and comprehensively promote rural revitalization, but also strive to build an educational power, improve farmers' scientific, technological and cultural literacy and promote the revitalization of rural talents. Human resources are the first resource for China's economic and social development, and education is the main way to develop human resources. Rural Revitalization needs talent revitalization, which is inseparable from the revitalization of rural education. However, there are still some problems to be solved in rural education. This paper combs the problems existing in the school running conditions, teachers, family education, education quality, local culture and the development status of rural vocational education, analyzes the causes of the problems, and puts forward the countermeasures for the development of rural education. Such as increasing investment in Education funds, strengthening the construction of school standardization; Improving the economic treatment and social status of rural teachers, strengthening the construction of rural teachers and enhancing their sense of rural belonging; Strengthening the role of family education and sharing the responsibilities of vulnerable groups; Improving the quality of education and creating local characteristic courses; Vigorously developing rural vocational education. Through these measures, we can promote the healthy and sustainable development of rural education. At the same time, the government, society, schools and families need to work together to attach great importance to and strive to solve the problems existing in rural education. Therefore, this article combs the problems existing in rural education and seeks solutions in order to help the rapid development of rural education.

Rural teachers and social movements under formation: political struggles for rural schools in northweestern Rio de Janeiro state

Closing rural schools is a scene that has become usual in many Brazilian states, a fact that forces rural communities to quit life in the country as the place for both living and existence reproduction. Rural schools in Northwestern Rio de Janeiro State take the same path of other Brazilian realities; in other words, they are the victims of activity canceling, which is an injustice supported by economic arguments. However, the implementation of the course named Interdisciplinary Major Degree in Rural Education, also known as LEdoC, at Fluminense Federal University (UFF), in Santo Antônio de Pádua City, RJ, opened room for a whole series of popular movements to cope with the rural exodus reality. Accordingly, the aim of the present study is to describe the path opened between 2015 and 2019 by UFF’s LEdoC and Santo Antônio de Pádua’s community for the Alternation Pedagogy in order to defend rural schools, based on the research-action methodology. The main results have highlighted the importance of the research-action methodology to reinforce the local demands and the process of reporting the alienation of rural populations from their right to education. Moreover, they have pointed towards the fact that popular social movements reinforce rural teachers’ formation by repairing public policies to question oppression situations in and outside education institutions.

ONLINE SCHOOLING IN RURAL AREAS IN ROMANIA DURING THE PANDEMIC: TEACHERS’ PERSPECTIVES

Because of the threat of the Coronavirus pandemic, schooling in Romania moved in distance regime in March 2020. During the next school year, each municipality chose the scenario for each school – face-to-face schooling or online learning – according to the local number of infections. However, online education encountered many difficulties in terms of material and human resources, especially in rural areas. In this study we aim to explore rural teachers’ perspectives about online schooling in Romania, during the Coronavirus pandemic. The data – obtained through a series of interviews and questionnaires – were collected from rural teachers working in various parts of the country. In this study we propose to follow two main directions. First, we explore teachers’ experiences concerning the access to material resources in the school and at home. The absence of proper digital equipment and the quality of the internet connection are two of the main concerns for policy makers. Second, the study focuses on educational practice, discussing teachers’ accounts and experiences during two periods: March-June 2020 and the next school year, until present. We intend to explore rural teachers’ experiences in depth, as rural was always disadvantaged in Romania’s education system. This study is a starting point for further research of rural teachers’ preparedness in Romania and the implications of online learning on rural teachers and students.

Nurturing STEM talent in rural setting

Rural schools, especially smaller ones, offer enormous opportunities for teachers to get to know their students and to cultivate their academic talents. However, students with potential in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) face specific obstacles to having their talents fully realized in rural schools. Joni Lakin, Tamra Stambaugh, Lori Ihrig, Duhita Mahatmya, and Susan G. Assouline describe the STEM Excellence and Leadership project from the University of Iowa, which seeks to equip rural teachers in grades 5-8 with the skills and knowledge to recognize and grow STEM talent in rural areas. Examples of success and lessons learned are shared.

THE PRESCHOOL TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS ON THE CHILDREN’S WELL-BEING IN THE PANDEMIC CONTEX

Well-being, a concept so often discussed, has increasingly come to the attention of specialists and practitioners, especially during the pandemic period whose magnitude has significantly influenced the well-being of all of us. The purpose of the comparative-correlational study was to investigate the perceptions and practices of teachers in Romanian preschool education regarding their role in ensuring the well-being of preschoolers in kindergarten, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, starting from the theoretical framework that delimits the factors that influence the well-being at this age (Aulia et al., 2020; Kwi-Ok et al., 2020; Sönmez & Ceylan, 2016), we used The Scale of Self-assessment of Wellbeing - IASB (Rodawell, 2019), developed by the University of Bucharest within the Rodawell project, and The Scale of Happiness Strategies for Children Used by Preschool Teachers - HSCPT (Sapsağlam et al., 2019). The online questionnaire was answered by 149 teachers for preschool education, especially from Timiş county. The results of the study (analyzed by The Independent-Samples T-Test, ANOVA One-Way, Spearman Correlation) highlight the existence of a positive association between perceptions and practices of educators in ensuring wellbeing, but also the existence of statistically significant differences between teachers’ practices in urban vs. rural environment, in the sense that, although they perceive children’s well-being similarly, rural teachers tend to use happiness strategies more often. At the same time, teachers’ perceptions differ depending on how the teaching activity is carried out in a pandemic context: the self-perceived role and the practices dedicated to ensuring well-being are more intense in hybrid and online format than the traditional one.

TEACHERS’ SENSE OF SELF-EFFICACY: A STUDY OF ENGLISH TEACHERS IN MALAYSIAN RURAL SCHOOLS

Teaching English as a second language (TESL) in rural schools remains a prominent issue in Malaysia. Many teachers in rural areas struggle with the seemingly insuperable difficulties associated with their underperforming rural schools in English, which is yet to be addressed significantly. This study explores ten English teachers’ sense of self-efficacy of those serving in rural schools. The lived experiences of the participants were explored through in-depth semi-structured interviews. The data gathered were analysed thematically to gain insights into the phenomenon. Three results of this study revealed the rural environmental influence aspects of teachers’ sense of self-efficacy, the context-specific nature of rural teachers’ sense of self-efficacy, and the blended philosophical concepts of social support, unswerving commitment, social obligation, and social-emotional benefits as significant driving forces to retain serving rural schools. The study’s results could contribute incrementally to the advancement of knowledge on TESL in rural schools by providing insights into the subject and context-specific descriptions.

Teacher Positioning in Rural Spaces

In this qualitative study, we ask how 40 rural educators of English learners (ELs) culturally position themselves and their students. We obtained data through a cultural autobiography assignment that prompted teachers to describe their interactions and relationships with others. Drawing on both rural and non-rural experiences, teachers established their ability to exercise agency, mediated by individual histories and beliefs and the context of their rural settings. Teachers developed their capacity to reflect on the ways they position themselves toward their ELs, a crucial first step in creating culturally sustaining pedagogy. Implications point to the potential of cultural autobiography as a means to heighten rural teachers’ awareness of how their experiences and interactions nuance their cultural identity. Such reflections can expand notions of culture beyond common social identifiers and enable teachers to forge links with their students that would otherwise not be apparent. We suggest this autobiographical process is particularly important for rural teachers who are new to teaching ELs in their classrooms.

Rural Teachers’ Cultural and Epistemic Shifts in STEM Teaching and Learning

This article focuses on the ways in which integrated curriculum can improve STEM teaching and learning within rural spaces. Using a design-based research approach, this study focuses on rural teachers' experiences of professional learning and development training as they learn to engage computing and maker technologies in their elementary classrooms as tools for teaching students about difficult histories of immigration, migration, and forced relocation across the United States.

A Study on Path of Rural Teachers Helping the Inheritance of Vernacular Culture in China

Vernacular culture is the root of Chinese culture, in essence, so the inheritance of vernacular culture is crucial. Rural teachers are the "rural talents" in rural areas and have been playing various roles as cultural inheritors, protectors and leaders. The cultural responsibilities of rural teachers in the new era face many difficulties: the lack of vernacular cultural literacy of rural teachers, the "urban orientation" of rural education, the backward ideology of rural parents, and the lack of funds. Under the call of rural cultural revitalization, rural teachers should re-erect the banner of cultural inheritance and contribute to rural cultural revitalization by focusing on cultivating rural teachers' local cultural literacy, developing school-based cultural curriculum and compiling local teaching materials, collaborating with village schools and making use of the Internet to promote the inheritance and development of vernacular culture.