Abstract:

How has the media image of rural teachers been presented in the national narrative since 1949? This is an issue worthy of in-depth discussion while promoting a series of rural teacher support plans. This study selects the reports on rural teachers in People’s Daily (1949- 2021) for LDA topic modeling and case analysis to present the national construction process and role expectation of rural teachers in different times. Firstly, the focus of reporting on rural teachers has changed from the local typical experience to the national perspective, and the number continues to rise. This shows that the nation pays more and more attention to the issues of rural teachers. Secondly, the media image of rural teachers has experienced changes from ‘devotees of national collectivism’ in the period of collectivization to “strugglers of local pragmatism” in the period of reform and opening up, and then to “practitioners of urban and rural equity” in the period of rural revitalization. Thirdly, the moral discourse of “being both red and professional” has gradually faded, while the professional image construction based on teachers’ individual local emotion has been strengthened, shaping the ideal image of ‘sunflowers rooted in the soil’, whose value orientation is significant. Since the establishment of New China, the change of rural teachers’ media image reflects the transformation of rural education from “exogenous support” to “endogenous development”, whose dynamic mechanism is the concept and policy of urban-rural balance and educational equity.

Key words: rural teachers, media professional image, People’s Daily, national construction, value orientation