Comparison of Teachers’ Perceptions of Educational Resources and Occupational Well-Being in Rural and Urban Schools of Qorveh County

Abstract

The present study aimed to compare teachers’ perceptions of educational resources and occupational well-being in rural and urban schools of Qorveh County. In terms of purpose, the study was applied, and in terms of research method, it employed a descriptive causal-comparative design. The statistical population consisted of all teachers working in urban and rural schools at all educational levels in Qorveh County during the 2025–2026 academic year. A total of 240 teachers, including 134 teachers from urban schools and 106 teachers from rural schools, were selected using proportional stratified sampling. Data were collected using the School Resources subscale of the Revised School-Level Environment Questionnaire developed by Johnson, Stevens, and Zvoch (2007), and the Teacher Well-Being Scale developed by Collie, Shapka, Perry, and Martin (2015). The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the Shapiro–Wilk and Levene tests, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), and univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) in SPSS version 26. The results indicated a significant difference between teachers in rural and urban schools in the combined measure of perceptions of educational resources and occupational well-being. Separate analyses also showed that teachers in urban schools had more favorable perceptions of educational resources and higher levels of occupational well-being than teachers in rural schools. These findings suggest that differences in the environmental and professional conditions of rural and urban schools may influence teachers’ perceptions of educational resources and their experiences of occupational conditions. Accordingly, improving access to educational resources, strengthening professional support, and enhancing the working conditions of rural school teachers may contribute to reducing disparities between rural and urban educational environments.