Investigating the default intention among preservice teachers in the free teacher education programme: implications for enhancing rural education quality

To attract and retain rural teachers, the Chinese government has piloted the Free Teacher Education Programme (FTEP) since 2007. Examining the FTEP participants' intentions and reasons for default helps stakeholders make effective and timely adjustments to existing policies and regulations so that more capable preservice teachers may be retained and contribute to the substantial improvement of rural education. Through a blended design, we interviewed seven FTEP students who have defaulted and administered surveys to 2866 preservice teachers at 14 universities in Shandong Province. The findings suggest that 1) a substantial number of the surveyed students showed a willingness to discontinue the programme, and within this group, a minority displayed a heightened determination to leave; 2) a statistically significant difference was found in the contracting area, residential area, and age; 3) policy-related factors, professional identity, and programme cultivation process could statistically significantly predict FTEP students' default intention as independent variables or in combination with policy-related variables having the strongest impact.