What influences teachers to select their schools? Teachers’ perspectives on strengths and weaknesses of rural and urban area in Taiwan

Abstract

AbstractThe problem of teacher shortages in rural areas are intractable, as schools lack adequate qualified teachers, which inevitably exerts a negative impact on student learning and school development. In Taiwan, the government has implemented relevant policies, but the high teacher turnover rate and the high proportion of nonqualified teachers are issues that are still unsolved. This research investigated the relative importance of the determinants influencing teacher school selection and compared the teachers from rural districts with those from urban. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was adopted to analyze the proportion and ranking of the determinants, and a self-developed questionnaire was distributed to teachers from 25 rural and 25 urban schools in Taiwan. Initially, 10 urban and 5 rural schools were selected through the researcher’s social connections, and the remaining schools were recommended by the selected schools. The final 500 samples comprised 50 schools, each contributing 10 teachers to the research. The research results indicate that decent quality of life and professional autonomy are the most valued criteria by the participants, while monetary incentives, including both salary and subsidy, are moderately valued. Moreover, among the comparison between schools from different districts, teachers from rural areas are relatively pessimistic about the working conditions despite holding advantages in the areas of several determinants, which contradicts the stereotype of the unattractive hard-to-staff school. The findings provide suggestions for policymakers regarding the implementation of incentives catered to teachers’ needs to lessen the negative impact of teacher shortages in rural areas.