{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,15]],"date-time":"2026-10-15T17:50:22Z","timestamp":1792086622584,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,15]],"date-time":"2026-10-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1792022400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS One"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The high-quality development of rural education urgently requires strengthening the supply of outstanding rural teachers. Based on Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT), a survey of 6,546 teacher education students from local universities in Heilongjiang Province revealed that the willingness to teach in rural areas among three identified profiles\u2014the Weak Foundation Profile, the Development-Oriented Profile, and the Excellence-Prepared Profile\u2014is significantly influenced by academic year and family capital. This influence manifests differentiated patterns via the \u201cenvironment-person-behaviour\u201d transmission pathway: family support acts as a common motivating factor for rural teaching willingness across all three groups; for foundation-weak students, professional competence primarily exerts a mediating effect through the family support pathway; for development-oriented students, professional competence shows no significant mediating effect in this pathway; and for excellence-oriented students, the willingness to return to their hometowns for rural teaching is jointly driven by the dynamic interplay between environmental factors and individual professional competence. Therefore, a differentiated approach is imperative: policy orientation should strengthen the enabling role of family support, optimise the pathways for localised training and incentives for rural teachers, and establish a growth system for rural education leaders. These measures will further refine the long-term mechanisms for attracting and retaining talent in rural teaching positions.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0360231","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,15]],"date-time":"2026-10-15T17:32:41Z","timestamp":1792085561000},"page":"e0360231","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Why can\u2019t they \u201cGo back\u201d? \u2014 A multi-group comparative analysis of pre-service teachers\u2019 hometown return intention in local universities based on latent profile analysis"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"21","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0009-0239-2873","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Chen","family":"Qing","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Northeast Normal University","place":["Changchun, Jilin, China"],"department":["Faculty of Education"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yu","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Mudanjiang Normal University","place":["Mudanjiang, Heilongjiang, China"],"department":["Academy of Educational Sciences"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhichao","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Northeast Normal University","place":["Changchun, Jilin, China"],"department":["Faculty of Education"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Haiying","family":"Yu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Mudanjiang Normal University","place":["Mudanjiang, Heilongjiang, China"],"department":["Academy of Educational Sciences"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,15]]},"reference":[{"issue":"08","key":"pone.0360231.ref001","first-page":"31","article-title":"Hybrid training paths for 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