Between Obligation and Aspiration: Motivation, Emotions, and Systemic Barriers in Online Professional Development for Rural Teachers

Rong Hua; Chunmei Yang; Jiawei Chen

doi:10.19173/irrodl.v27i3.9039

Authors

Rong Hua Faculty of Foreign Language Department, Hainan Normal University, Hainan, China
Chunmei Yang Faculty of Educational Science, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China
Jiawei Chen Faculty of Teacher Education, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, China https://orcid.org/0009-0006-5091-2122

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v27i3.9039

Keywords:

rural teachers, online professional development, motivation, self-determination theory, affective engagement, structural barriers

Abstract

This study investigates how rural teachers in China experience online professional development (OPD), focusing on the affective, motivational, and structural dimensions of their engagement. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 30 rural primary and secondary school teachers, this study employed sentiment analysis and thematic coding to explore participants’ emotional orientations, sources of motivation, and perceived barriers. While teachers generally expressed positive attitudes toward OPD, their actual experiences revealed notable tensions between optimism and disconnection. Three interrelated findings emerged: (a) a mismatch between favorable attitudes and unsatisfying learning encounters; (b) participation driven more by external mandates than by internalized professional goals; and (c) multiple constraints embedded in training design, institutional policies, sociocultural environments, and digital competence gaps. Based on these insights, the study proposes three conceptual constructs—affective-structural dissonance, controlled engagement, and layered constraint ecology—to explain the complex interplay between emotional readiness and systemic limitations. These findings contribute to the literature on distributed learning by emphasizing the need for motivation-sensitive and context-responsive OPD design, particularly in underserved rural settings.

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