Countermeasures to Promote the Professional Development of English Teachers in Rural Primary and Secondary Schools in China

Li Xiaolin

Jilin International Studies University,Changchun,China

Email:489751193@qq.com

[Abstract] The problem of rural education has existed for a long time,so the state has also formulated many rural education welfare policies,hoping to achieve a balance between rural education and urban education.But the educational resources in cities still far exceed those in rural areas.Although education is now receiving more and more attention in rural areas,the development of educational facilities in rural areas is still relatively slow,especially in the field of English education in primary and secondary schools.In many rural primary schools,there are very few English teachers,and many students have been exposed to English for the first time in junior high schools.The key to narrowing the gap between urban and rural English education is to solve the problem of English teachers in rural primary and secondary schools.Only with high-quality English teachers in rural primary and secondary schools can the level of rural English education be effectively improved.Therefore,the professional development level of English teachers in rural primary and secondary schools directly determines the level of English education in rural primary and secondary schools,and how to promote the professional development of English teachers in rural primary and secondary schools has become the key to improving the level of rural English education.This article first discusses the reasons for the need to promote the professional development of English teachers in rural primary and secondary schools,and then shows a series of difficulties currently encountered,and finally proposes relevant countermeasures

[Keywords] rural areas;primary and secondary school English;teacher professional development;countermeasures

Reasons for Seeking Countermeasures to Promote the Professional development of English Teachers in Rural Areas

In recent years,the education gap between urban and rural areas in China has been widening.At the stage of primary and secondary education,there are obvious problems in the educational resources and teaching proficiency of English subject in rural areas.It is of great significance to seek countermeasures to promote the professional development of English teachers in rural primary and secondary schools in this context.

Responding to the Government's Call of the Educational Policy

The overall well-off of the country not only falls on the economy,but also emphasizes universal basic education,especially in rural primary and secondary education.The government hopes to achieve balanced development of education and achieve"education equity".While not letting the rural people be bound by material poverty,we also strive not to let the lack of knowledge lead to spiritual poverty.Only when the"well-off"of both spiritual and material aspects is realized is a real well-off.The country has fully supported the development of rural education in recent years,and rural education has become a hot spot.

Conforming to the Trend o the Times

Since English is the universal language in the world,English has become a very common and necessary skill in today's society.The rural population and urban population are gradually equal,so the realization of basic English education in rural areas is imminent and the general trend.Education must keep up with the development of the times in order to cultivate truly capable talents for the society.The future of a country belongs to young people.Only when young people have a future can the future of the country have hope.Only things that conform to the trend of the times can not be overthrown by the waves of the times,can they remain vigorous forever and grow stronger with strong vitality.

The Needs of the Professional Development of English Teachers in Primary and Secondary Schools

The basic English education in rural areas can test the professional development ability of English teachers.At the same time,it can make the management system of rural English teachers more perfect and complete,and provide a better platform and more possibilities for the professional development of English teachers in primary and secondary schools.Balancing the level of urban and rural English education can stimulate the reform of the rural English education system,build a scientific and reasonable English education system,provide a better environment for the development of basic English education in rural areas,and form a virtuous circle.This is also the demand for the professional development of English teachers in primary and secondary schools.By balancing the differences in English education in the two different environments of the city and the countryside,it promotes the all-round and diversified development of basic English education.

Difficulties Encountered in the Professional Development of English Teachers in Rural Primary and Secondary Schools

The weakness of teachers is the primary problem that hinders the development of English level in rural primary and secondary schools.Therefore,this section mainly discusses the difficulties of rural primary and secondary English teachers and the causes of these difficulties.

The Big Salary Gap

On the one hand,because the salary of rural schools teachers is much lower than that of urban schools,most of the excellent teacher flow to the cities.Most urban schools will assess the performance of teachers.In addition to basic salary guarantees,there are additional bonuses and allowances based on the performance assessment of teachers.Moreover,the education funds of urban schools are abundant,and bonuses and allowances are very pleasant.However,in contrast,rural schools not only have basic salaries lower than urban salaries,but also do not set additional assessments and rewards for teachers' teaching proficiency.As a result,many outstanding teachers are reluctant to teach in rural areas and prefer to stay in cities to teach.And rural teachers are also proud of having the opportunity to teach in urban schools.Salary is the basic driving force for teachers' work.If remuneration is not met,rural teacher positions are obviously not competitive in the job market.

The Big Gap in Professional Development Prospects

On the other hand,the prospect of professional development is also one of the factors that many teachers consider their employers.In cities,the development prospects of English teachers will be broader.Because there are more educational institutions in cities,the demand for English language training far exceeds that in rural areas.English teachers not only can teach in schools in cities,but also continue to use their professional knowledge in exchange for high-paid labor in off-campus English training institutions.The job opportunities in rural schools are limited,and the space for promotion is also limited.Teachers have fewer opportunities to receive training and achieve self-professional improvement during their employment.This is also a major problem faced by rural English basic education.

The Big Gap in the Quality of Students

In addition,the gap in the quality of urban and rural students also directly affects the issue of the retention of English teachers.Many urban students start to learning English from the beginning of primary school or even from kindergarten or early education.Their acceptance of English as a foreign language is far different than that of rural students.One reason is that most of the family economic conditions of rural students are relatively limited,and it is difficult to invest too much money in pre-school English education.At the same time,most rural families have low awareness of English,and even some parents themselves have little or no exposure to English education.This indirectly contributes to the weakness of basic English education in rural areas.Such a quality gap makes it more difficult for English teachers to develop basic English education in rural areas,and it may be difficult to achieve the desired results with a lot of energy,which will also reduce the teacher's teaching passion.

Low Application Capability of Modern Education Technology

With the development of education modernization,most teachers have a certain awareness and quality of using information technology.But in fact,the information technology knowledge and ability of English teachers in rural schools are still low,and only a very small number of teachers can apply information technology proficiently in teaching practice.At the same time,the rural primary and secondary school English teachers are weak in the integration of information technology and teaching research.There are few rural English teachers who can use the principles of educational technology to conduct in-depth analysis and investigation of teaching research and find effective solutions to problems.According to Wang Yujie(2020),the current Chinese rural junior high school English teachers'modern educational technology concepts are generally lacking,and their modern educational technology capabilities are relatively low.This has become the primary problem restricting the development of rural junior high school English modernization education.

Countermeasures to Promote the Professional Development of English Teachers in Rural Primary and Secondary Schools

Based on the analysis of the above background and reasons,we can seek practical and effective measures to promote the professional development of English teachers in rural primary and secondary schools from three aspects:strengthening educational training,organizing communication practices,and improving the supervision system.

Quality Training for English Teachers in Primary and Secondary Schools

According to Dong Han (2021),in order to better teach people,teachers not only need excellent professional quality,but also need good moral quality to meet modern education needs.Unscheduled training of English teachers in primary and secondary schools can not only dispel the tiredness of teaching,but also give teachers an opportunity to review their teaching beliefs and give them a steady stream of motivation.The greatest virtue of teachers is selfless dedication.Although the bustling world today is all for gains and benefits,in such a fast-paced life,teachers'educational environment and treatment in the cities are good,but sometimes they feel lost.But in the rural areas,the slow pace of life in the countryside gives teachers more time and space to think and reflect,and it can stimulate teachers'teaching inspiration.On the other hand,the simplicity of rural students can also bring teachers a sense of teaching accomplishment.

For example,education quality training can be conducted,and some examples of outstanding teachers that have moved the whole country can be given to encourage teachers and make them realize the importance of sticking to the original aspirations of education.It should be noted that teachers of different ages should adopt different training methods for quality training.Just imagine,if a teacher's own words and deeds are quite different from what he gave to the students,how can a teacher take education into the hearts of the people?Moreover,as teachers in elementary and middle schools,they also shoulder heavier responsibilities.The elementary and secondary educational stage is an important stage of the physical and mental development of students,and the students'outlook on life,values,and world outlook has not yet taken shape.There is no doubt that the education of teachers at this golden stage will bring great influence to students.Therefore,strengthening the quality education of English teachers in primary and secondary schools is a solid guarantee for the healthy development of primary and secondary school students.

Organizing Urban English Teachers to Go to the Countryside to Experience Rural Teaching

Through the experience of changing the teaching environment for a period of time,teachers who are accustomed to urban English teaching can experience English education in rural primary and secondary schools,so they may be attracted by the infection of the rural environment.Students' desire for knowledge and the importance of school departments can retain excellent teachers,thereby promoting the growth of rural English teachers,driving the improvement of the quality of rural primary and secondary education,and realizing the overall improvement of rural school teaching.After that,the goal of urban-rural integration of rural teachers' treatment and career prospects can be achieved step by step.

For example,an exchange meeting for urban and rural English teachers can be held to allow urban English teachers to visit,guide,and learn from rural primary and secondary schools.We can try to awaken the original intention of teachers through such direct experience.Those teachers who still have the original intention will be infected and touched by this experience.Teachers with such a good character will not have problems such as salary and treatment.Their professional ideal is to become teachers who are needed in these places,in order to realize their social value.Relevant departments can use this experience to find excellent teachers who truly take education as their responsibility.Only with a lot of such teachers,there are boundless hopes for the development of rural education.

Establishing a Rural Teacher Supervision System

Due to the imperfect rural education system and the lack of an effective rural teacher supervision system,rural teachers often experience burnout in the middle and late stages of their education careers.They treat teaching casually and lack teaching passion for students.These teachers maximize their own interests under the protection of the imperfect system.They earn salaries from the government,but do not do anything about teaching.Even some rural teachers are morally corrupt,which has a very bad influence on the future development of students.Therefore,it is very necessary to improve the supervision system of rural teachers.

In order to establish a relatively complete teacher supervision system,first of all,the evaluation criteria must be established.Every academic year,teaching institutions must set relevant teaching goals for teachers and conduct teacher assessments at the end of the academic year.Only those who pass the assessment can continue to serve as teachers,and those who fail will be demoted.This strategy can urge rural teachers to keep pace with the times and continuously improve their own teaching,thereby stimulating teachers to carry out teaching reforms.

According to Yue(2019),At present,the overall structure of Chinese rural teachers is not reasonable.This is unfavorable for the professional development of rural English teachers.We need to make reasonable reforms for the management system.First,we must establish a good teacher regulatory system,provide a better working environment and increase the support of rural teachers to encourage teachers who graduate from colleges and universities to the educational institutions in rural areas.At the same time,we can consider giving a certain degree of incentive conditions,thereby constantly supplementing new talents in rural education.Second,the relevant departments should consider offering support in the prospects of rural teachers'career development.In terms of professional promotion,rural teachers will have more priority to use this as a certain compensation.Finally,the relevant departments need to adhere to the training of rural English teachers.In this process,the teachers continue to obtain new teaching philosophy,and their teaching quality can also be improved through these specialization.

On the other hand,students are the best feed backers of teachers' teaching results.Relevant departments can conduct private and anonymous surveys of students and ask them if their teachers are unqualified,and use this as a basis for teacher evaluation.We can choose a larger number of samples and check the authenticity of student feedback in combination with the class monitoring video.In the specific operation process,care should also be taken to ensure the anonymity of the students,and the interviewed students should not be subject to prejudice by the teacher.It is very important to protect the privacy of students.

Improving the Scientific Research Capability of Rural School English Teachers

In order to promote and realize the professional development of English teachers in rural primary and secondary schools,emphasis should be placed on cultivating and enhancing teachers'scientific research capabilities.Rural primary and secondary education institutions should fully recognize the importance of education and scientific research,and at the same time strengthen the promotion of teachers' scientific research in their daily teaching work.Specific measures can include helping each teacher formulate a scientific research work plan,clarify the requirements of scientific research tasks,and incorporate scientific research results into the periodic assessment content.

In addition,from the perspective of individual teachers,English teachers in rural primary and secondary schools should also fully realize the importance of educational research and actively participate in research activities.Teachers' educational research activities can help teachers to continuously update the concepts and methods of education and teaching,and realize the continuous improvement and development of their own professional and comprehensive qualities.

Rural primary and secondary education institutions and relevant departments at all levels should also provide policy and financial support in teacher education and scientific research.Specifically,according to Zhou Ruixin(2020),it is necessary to strengthen the use of network resources.Teachers can learn and absorb some advanced teaching concepts and methods through the network,and then provide useful guidance and help for their own education and scientific research.On the other hand,English teachers should also cooperate and communicate with each other,adopt collective lesson preparation,and conduct joint research around related education and scientific research issues.At the same time,they can also carry out more teaching and research activities to continuously strengthen and improve teachers' basic education and scientific research skills.It is also necessary to provide rural middle school English teachers with opportunities and conditions to go out for training,such as participating in short-term English course training and various seminars,bringing back advanced teaching concepts and methods,and promoting the development and progress of educational research.

Relevant government departments can also attract more outstanding college English graduates to participate in rural English teaching by formulating relevant pending policies,so as to improve the English teaching environment and outlook in rural middle schools.For example,providing welfare allowances to volunteers who have served a certain number of years to support education in rural areas,giving them the opportunity to further study,or enjoying preferential treatment in civil service application examinations,etc.Rural primary and secondary school education institutions can help rural primary and secondary English teachers improve their scientific research capabilities by optimizing the educational environment,improving teachers' remuneration,and reducing teachers' teaching burdens,so as to achieve mutual benefit in teaching and researching.

Conclusion

In the countermeasures to promote the professional development of English teachers in rural primary and secondary schools,the gap between urban and rural areas is a key issue,and teachers'own pursuit is a direct influencing factor.Only with both hands can we truly realize the universal development of English in rural primary and secondary schools.Although this process may be difficult,with the joint efforts of various sectors of society,we must always hold hope and look forward to the faster and wider development of the English teaching profession in rural primary and secondary schools.

Acknowledgement

This paper is a phased research result of the Jilin Province Educational Science Planning Project "Research on the Professional Development of English Teachers in Rural Primary and Secondary Schools in Jilin Province",project number ZK1821.