Practical Dilemmas and Optimization of Home-school Cooperation for Rural Left-behind Children: A Qualitative Study of 15 teachers and 10 parents

Based on qualitative interviews with 15 rural teachers and 10 parents of left-behind children, this study reveals several dilemmas in the home-school cooperation for left-behind children in rural areas, including:lack of guardians' educational involvement; inefficient cooperation methods; poor home-school communication. The underlying reasons for these dilemmas are the isolation of time and space, guardians' deficit understanding of home-school cooperation, guardians' insufficient ability of home-school cooperation, and the ambiguity of the boundaries of subject's responsibility. In order to optimize the home-school cooperation for left-behind children in rural areas, it is worth to promote information technology to alleviate the dilemma of space-time isolation and to improve the enthusiasm and comprehensive quality of home-school cooperation subjects.