The Impact of Student-Teacher Policy Perception on Employment Intentions in Rural Schools for Educational Sustainable Development Based on Push–Pull Theory: An Empirical Study from China

Governments and professional organizations around the world have realized that successful recruitment and retention policies are vital to address the shortage of teachers in rural and remote areas. To the best of our knowledge, despite extensive advocacy of policies and discussions pertaining to their implications, an academic investigation into how student teachers perceive the policies and how their policy perception influences rural employment intentions has rarely been performed. Herein, this study is devoted to investigating the impact of policy perception on student-teacher rural employment intentions. In this study, the participants consist of undergraduate and postgraduate students at Chinese universities who specialize in preparing teachers of all disciplines. A questionnaire survey and quantitative analysis based on commercially available software Questionnaire Star, SPSS 26.0, Amos 26.0 and RMediation package were performed in data acquisition and analysis. It was found that student-teacher perception of the supporting policy Rural Revitalization Strategy was a little below average. High policy perception leads to an increase in the intentions of student teachers to seek employment in rural areas, and social support and positive job perception mediate the linkage between policy perception and rural employment intentions. It was also found that a difference in academic qualifications, census registration, and unpaid teaching satisfaction exists in the intentions to teach in rural schools. Such effects can be explained by the push–pull theory. Finally, this study provides recommendations for governments, universities, rural schools, and families.