The RCEF Blog 博客

The principal raises an important issue. Can improving hardware conditions really help retain rural teachers and improve their teaching? Often, we feel that investing in hardware projects is superficial and takes resources and attention away from the deeper problems in teaching methods. But a prerequisite to improving teaching is to have a stable and skilled teaching team. To build that team for the long haul, we should also consider the value of creating a pleasant physical working and living environment for the teachers. Their intrinsic motivation and professional development support are most important, but we shouldn’t underestimate how a nice working environment can actually make teachers happy to stay and advance their work.

At Fuxin Middle School, teachers rarely talked to each other this past winter partly because the staff room was freezing and they all had to rush back to the tiny coal heaters in their rooms after class. What difference might a heater, some comfy couches, and a stipend for electricity in the staff room have made to advance more communication between teachers and start discussions about their daily work?

Last semester at Guan Ai School, 5 female teachers shared bunk beds in a tiny dormitory/office about 3 meters wide and 6 meters long. They each had only their bed space and one drawer in a desk for teaching materials and personal belongings. Sometimes even their children sleep with them and students come in and out all the time. Guan Ai does not have extra room in the existing buildings to give teachers more living or working space so is looking for funding to construct new dorms and staff rooms. The teachers get along well and living together allows them to easily communicate about students and teaching. They don’t complain much and the tidy room is quite homey with drawings and even a computer. But the conditions are obviously much more cramped than in their own rural homes, not to mention in the cities or most other schools. Thus I think as part of our bid to retain and help rural teachers, we should encourage teachers to make improvements with their existing resources but also consider helping them find outside resources to use in creating a better working environment for themselves.