In this Narrative Inquiry, we share the stories of three Chinese rural students who grew up in a southeastern county in China before moving to the county seat for high school. By inviting our participants to read their own life, we aimed to understand how Chinese rural students make sense of their experience in an exam-centered school system that…

This study examined the link between two teaching characteristics (i.e., teacher support and cognitive activation) and achievement emotions in Chinese mathematics classrooms. The data were collected from 2232 students (49.9% male; M[subscript age] = 13.85, SD = 0.81) in 84 mathematics classrooms across 12 secondary schools in Jiangsu, China. The…

The study examined how L2 engagement is associated with students' general life satisfaction, a core element of well-being. A total of 1,109 seventh-grade EFL learners from a rural secondary school in China completed a measure of life satisfaction (family satisfaction, environment satisfaction, academic satisfaction, school satisfaction, freedom…

This study extends the community of inquiry (CoI) framework and empowerment theory by exploring the relationships between motivational variables, CoI variables, learning presence, and empowerment. We added motivational beliefs (growth mindset, self-efficacy, and task value) as associated variables and learning presence (online self-regulation) as…

This narrative inquiry explores a beginning teacher's counter story experiences in a high-needs secondary school in rural China. The study examines storied data culled from interviews, observations, and digital photos and videos of the participant's daily life. The research intent was to discover how the participant teacher lived counter stories…

In major public health crises, online education can play an important role in guaranteeing the continuity of education. However, whether online education can promote educational equity has been questioned widely. The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed severe challenges students face in online teaching. Based on Bourdieu's theory of cultural…

This study examined academic self-efficacy as a mediator in the relationship between family functioning and learning engagement by constructing a structural equation model. The participants were 817 students from public junior high schools in rural China. The data were collected by measuring family functioning, academic self-efficacy, and learning…

Research on the role of teacher agency has been growing significantly during the last decade. Agentic teachers act purposefully and constructively to direct their professional development and contribute to the quality of education, especially in rural areas. Professional development is mutually constituted between teachers and socio-cultural…

Instructional leadership continues to be a focus of research due to its effectiveness in improving schools. The understanding of effective instructional leadership has shifted from being engaged in day-to-day teaching and learning to being capable of organizing and managing teachers for instructional improvement. Most instructional leadership…

The COVID-19 pandemic has provided an opportunity for implementing blended learning in Chinese secondary schools. However, teachers have encountered several problems and challenges with the new pedagogical paradigm. Therefore, this study aims to identify the factors influencing the implementation of blended learning in urban and rural secondary…

Teachers' retention plays a critical role in rural students' access to quality education. Previous studies on rural teacher turnover have emphasised the role of economic disadvantages, with little attention paid to non-economic factors. The present study examined the effects of teacher-community interactions and community social structure on rural…

With the aim of further exploring students' engagement with language education policy processes and their decision-making practices that shape their language learning experience, this study carried out a nine-month ethnographic fieldwork to examine the English language learning trajectories of three rural high school students in China. On top of…

Exploring students' systems thinking (ST) is essential in enhancing science learning, but existing studies have failed to understand students' ST fully as it relates to ecological issues. This study aimed to fill the aforementioned literature gap by exploring lower-secondary school students' ST regarding ecological issues. The Systems Thinking…

Rural teachers are responsible for effectively implementing and continuously developing digital teaching models in rural areas in the rapidly digitizing society. This study investigated the motivational factors influencing rural teachers' adoption of digital teaching models. The study collected survey data from 384 rural teachers in western…

The present study examined relations between concern for mianzi, or the social perception of one's prestige and standing in the group, and adjustment in Chinese adolescents. Participants were seventh- and ninth-grade students in rural and urban regions of China (n = 794, M[subscript age] = 14 years). Data were obtained from multiple sources…