Spatial Accessibility Characteristics and Optimization of Multi-Stage Schools in Rural Mountainous Areas in China: A Case Study of Qixingguan District

Optimizing the allocation of basic educational facilities in mountainous rural areas is important for narrowing the education gap between urban and rural areas, constructing high-quality regional education systems, and achieving sustainable education development. This paper considered preschool, primary, and secondary schools in Qixingguan District, which is located in a mountainous area of China, using vector data of rural residential areas and educational facility points as a source of information on supply and demand. The study combined travel modes and acceptable time of rural school-age population, and applied the Gaussian two-step mobile search method to calculate the level of accessibility of basic educational facilities at the scale of residential areas. Location optimization and scale optimization models were used to determine the optimal location and service qualities for basic educational facilities. Our results yielded three main conclusions. First, the spatial pattern for the distribution density and accessibility of basic educational facilities in Qixingguan differed at all stages, but all of them showed a strong orientation toward the central urban area. Service capacity in each stage tended to extend toward the northeast and southwest, except for a certain orientation toward the central urban area. Second, the main reason for the low spatial accessibility of schools was that the density and service capacity of the available schools did not align with the distribution of the school-age population. Third, after optimizing for location and service capacity, schools at all stages shifted to the northeast of Qixingguan, which reduced the difference in service capacity between schools and improved the accessibility and balance of schools in the northeast and southwest.