How Do Rural Teachers in China Explain Their Students’ Underachievement? An Attribution Theory and Agency Perspective

Agentic teachers are indispensable in promoting student learning and academic success. In rural areas, students’ underachievement is generally persisting compared with that of urban students. Adopting an attribution theory and agency perspective, this study aims to understand teachers’ perceptions of reasons underlying rural students’ underachievement. Through semi-structured interviews with five rural teachers, this study reveals that teachers tend to believe that parents' and students' previous achievements are key to their underachievement and that teachers have a limited role in addressing these issues. The external attribution strategy generally leads to low agency, but teachers’ emotional attachment and experience can reshape and enhance their sense of agency. Teachers with deeper feelings for rural students and more positive teaching experiences are shown to be more agentic. The findings suggest that interventions that aim to narrow the urban and rural gaps should be implemented at an earlier schooling stage and reinforce rural teachers’ positive teaching experiences.