The draw of hometown: understanding rural teachers’ mobility in Southwest China

This two-year study explores the sociocultural factors for the mobility decisions and trajectories of 7 rural teachers in southwest China. It finds that those who teach outside their home regions tend to make efforts to return to their hometown in order to gain a sense of belonging, in addition to pursuing better working and living conditions. Several factors, such as lack of a sense of belonging, linking personal success to their family, and filial piety to their parents, motivate these teachers to make decisions to return to their hometown. In their hometown areas, their selection of final destination is also linked with their concern to bring glory and benefits to their family and community. Their tendency to take family and community into consideration is intrinsically linked to the Chinese cultural sense of self or personhood. These findings imply that emotional attachment and identity construction of individual teachers should be taken into consideration to recruit and retain teachers in schools in impoverished rural regions.