The Current Status and Reinforcement Pathways of Career Stickiness Among Public-Funded Teacher Trainees for Rural Schools in China

Public-funded teacher trainees’ education in China represents a national strategic initiative aimed at precisely supplying high-quality teachers to rural schools. As prospective rural educators, these students constitute a vital force for building future rural teaching faculties. However, the persistent structural dilemma of “retaining personnel through contract compliance while failing to retain their commitment” continues to hinder their long-term engagement in rural education. To explore the internal mechanisms underlying their retention in rural teaching, this study adopts a mixed-methods design grounded in the eastern, western, and northern regions of Guangdong Province. Drawing on 128 valid questionnaires and 11 in-depth interviews, we empirically examine the current status of career stickiness among public-funded teacher trainees. The results indicate that their overall career stickiness is above the medium level, exhibiting a distinct pattern characterized by “normative dominance and emotional deficiency.” Career choices are largely driven by external contractual constraints, whereas endogenous emotional identification and value commitment remain underdeveloped. To bridge this gap, we propose an integrated “three-pronged” support strategy: enhancing local identity at the emotional level, optimizing contractual mechanisms at the institutional level, and expanding professional growth pathways at the developmental level. We recommend coordinated efforts across universities, administrative agencies, and school management to facilitate a profound transition from “contractual compliance” to “emotional rootedness,” thereby providing robust teacher support for rural educational revitalization.