The Status Quo, Sources and Influencing Factors of Professional Pressure Faced by Preschool Teachers in Rural China: An Empirical Study Based on Multiple Counties in Hubei Province

Abstract

The professional pressure of preschool teachers in rural China is closely related to the stability of the teaching staff and the development of children. A study of 734 teachers in 155 rural preschools from three national-level poverty-stricken counties and one non-poverty county in Hubei Province showed that current rural preschool teachers are facing greater professional pressure. Approximately 44.47% thought that the pressure is high, but has not yet reached the level of high burnout; non-poverty county preschool teachers have relatively high pressure. According to the Demand-Control-Support (DCS) model, the main pressure stems from the work requirements of children and parents, especially parents’ excessive emphasis on children’s safety, knowledge, and skills. The results of the Ordered Probit Model showed that the influencing factors of preschool teachers’ professional pressure in rural preschools in China include work factors such as workload and the number of children in difficulty; control factors like perseverance and professional identity; support factors such as staffing status, salary satisfaction, family support, and work support; as well as demographic variables such as age and household registration type (Hukou); and certain inter-county differences exist. Therefore, we recommend that the government, society, and preschools establish effective incentive and restraint mechanisms to reduce the professional pressure of preschool teachers in terms of salary, social status, parental guidance, workload, and stress training, and improve their ability to cope with pressure. Meanwhile, more focus need to be given on teachers who are for the first year preschool, older in age, lacking staffing status, no non-agricultural household registration, and overloading working.