Schools in small and rural areas are often depicted as facing insurmountable challenges. Examples of such difficulties include limitation of resources and staff shortages. The lack of access to digital means or the lack of digital skills among the school staff are also some of the most common challenges identified. However, this narrative can be reframed. As Andreas Schleischer in his OECD article argues this negative narrative may change by highlighting schools’ unique strengths and opportunities to drive equity in education.
The school-community relations and the strong connection among the residents are central in small and rural schools. Schools in underdeveloped and/or isolated areas often function as cultural and social hubs, fostering a sense of belonging between school staff, families, and students. This hub-serving role of schools is a prerequisite for creating an environment that nurtures good school performance and psychosocial well-being.
Besides the strong school-community relations, small and rural schools may often provide student-centred learning experiences to their students. As class sizes tend to be small, they foster closer teacher-student interactions, and thus, they allow for support tailored to the needs of the students. Within such an environment, educators may be more flexible, in designing the learning experience according to the needs of each student; considering that schools and students may face challenges related to geography and scarcity of resources.
Nevertheless, investment in these areas is crucial for rural schools to overcome structural challenges. Enhanced digital infrastructure, equitable funding, and teacher-training programmes on the unique characteristics of rural settings, while only scratching the surface of the need for empowering small and rural schools, can address systemic challenges and act as engines of regional development and social mobility. Engines of social mobility and regional development may be unlocked once these challenges are addressed.
The mission of the EXIT project -Exploring Sustainable Strategies to Counteract Territorial Inequalities from an Intersectional Approach- is to address these challenges and highlight solutions to the problems residents of rural areas face. By focusing on region-specific, intersectional strategies, EXIT builds on the assets of rural areas and addresses progress-hindering structural barriers and the ‘left-behindness’ of such regions.
