The transformation and reconstruction of the role of rural teachers under the background of building a strong education country

Under the strategic deployment of the Outline of the Plan for Building a Powerful Nation through Education (2024-2035), rural teachers have been entrusted with a new mission: promoting high-quality and balanced development of urban and rural education, preserving excellent local culture, and cultivating rural builders. This necessitates a transformation of the rural teacher role. Within the context of building a powerful nation through education, this transformation faces challenges: a hollowing out of the humanistic nature of rural teacher roles in the context of high-quality and balanced urban and rural education; a lack of social capital weakening rural teachers' mission as “cultural figures”; a disconnect between the goals of cultivating rural builders and their professional development; and a dissolution of the context for rural teacher role transformation amidst a continuously shrinking school-age population. To promote the reconstruction of the rural teacher role within this context, efforts can be made in the following areas: first, guiding the humanistic restoration of the rural teacher role through the spirit of an educator; second, reconstructing the rural education landscape and cultivating the social capital that supports their mission as “cultural figures”; third, collaborating with multiple stakeholders to build a professional development community oriented toward the goal of cultivating rural builders; and fourth, scientifically analyzing changes in the rural school-age population and optimizing the educational space layout of rural schools.