The Multidimensional Mechanisms and Facilitation Strategies for Integrating the Spirit of Educators into Rural Teacher Development: An Empirical Study Based on Grounded Theory

The spirit of educators constitutes a core driving force for rural teachers to overcome developmental constraints and achieve endogenous professional growth, while also serving as a vital spiritual impetus for the high-quality development of rural education. Through interview surveys with 28 frontline teachers and school principals, this study employs grounded theory to identify a multidimensional mechanism for integrating the spirit of educators into rural teacher development across four dimensions: agency, time, space, and pathway. These mechanisms are including Teachers grow through individual awakening - group coexistence - and autonomous development; the integration of the educator's spirit is adapted to the process and career stage; the construction of an educator's spirit integration-based teacher development ecosystem; the formulation of the localized development path for rural teachers integrating the educator's spirit. On this basis, promotion strategies are proposed, mainly including: implementing stage-specific and differentiated development plans for rural teachers; establishing a multi-actor collaborative mechanism involving governments, normal universities, rural communities, and rural schools; improving the policy support system for rural teacher development; and deepening reform of the evaluation system for rural teacher development.