Abstract:

Excellent rural teachers are the key to realizing the modernization of rural education and the core driving force for the

high-quality development of rural education in the context of the national strategy of building a leading country in education. However,

the shortage of high-quality rural teachers remains a prominent issue in the development of rural education. To encourage more

outstanding rural teachers to settle and teach in rural areas, we must recognize three core challenges they face. First, they struggle with

the difficulties in fostering profound local affection and maintaining their commitment to rural teaching amid the rural social and

cultural ecosystem. Second, they face tensions in professional development, including the persistent compression of their space for

independent professional growth, the deprivation of professional autonomy and the inadequacy of professional support. Third, they are

caught in the struggle over professional identity. Against the backdrop of the ongoing failure to improve rural education quality, these

teachers are torn between leaving the profession and staying merely to make a living, trapped in confusion about their professional

identity regarding "who am I" and "who do I want to become".

Key words:

rural teachers, professional ethical practice, tensions in professional development, professional identity