Conference Agenda

School assemblages (Bennet, 2010) with their communities of people, curricula, buildings, connections with services, financial resources etc are entangled with their localities. Generally, great emphasis is put onto the importance of schools for communities and the possibilities of reciprocal benefits-for example the OECD (2018) state ‘Schools do not operate in a vacuum. Successful schools depend on the resources and support of their communities and schools at the centre of their communities are often the most successful schools. In turn, schools are vital to the social health of their local communities.” (OECD, 2018. Valuing our Teachers and Raising their Status How Communities Can Help).

Schools may be seen as ‘assets’ to places (Forrester et al, 2020) and are often expressed as ‘hearts’ of communities (Fargas Malet & Bagley, 2024), as ‘anchor institutions’ (Townshend et al, 2022) or learning hubs, at the social centre of communities (Cleveland et al, 2023). However, with the disconnection of schools from their communities and localities through mobility of students and school choice, for example, school-locality assemblages may be much more complex than first imagined (Wilkins, 2018).

With a renewed focus on demographic changes in Europe and other parts of the world, the possibilities of school closures are higher on political agenda (Eddins et al, 2024). There is a great deal of talk about school closures and rationalisations across the world, contingent with contemporary global polycrises, which includes demographic changes including rural depopulation (for example in Japan and India, urban population shifts in the US and reducing birth rates (such as in England). Studies of the impacts of the closure of schools on their communities (and the injustices associated with these) are significant but remain primarily anecdotal and small and there has been little systematic exploration of the wider impacts of school closures on their communities (Sageman, 2022).

The contributions in this symposium will bring together the work of researchers interested in the educational, social, economic and environmental impacts of schools and their assemblages in and with their communities and localities, in these times of liquid modernity (Bauman, 2000). As schools and their networks are rationalised, closed or reduced in size in response to population decline and reorganisations, the human resources (teachers, school leaders, students etc) are impacted. This diverse collection of papers considers impact factors external to schools such as demographic change and associated policy development. The collection also includes studies focussed within schools, including a consideration of school leaders and the status and preparation for multi-age teaching and learning in combined classes, listening to those with lived experience.

Globally research studies consistently report that rural schools have trouble in recruiting and retaining staff (Cuervo, 2023; Gristy et al., 2020). Some of the reasons are teachers exiting the profession due to workload pressures and due to isolation from their significant ones. Studies on staff shortages often offer a deficit construction of rural education by drawing attention to what rural schools and communities lack. The aim of this paper is to shift the focus from attraction and attrition of staff to why rural teachers stay. This perspective offers a change in the deficit narrative of rural schooling by positioning rural schools and communities as assets. The study draws on Axel Honneth’s (1995) recognition theory to focus on teachers’ classroom and school practices to explore why teachers stay. Researchers show that receiving social recognition is important for the constitution of teachers’ self-respect, identity, and job satisfaction (Huttunen & Heikkinen, 2004). On the other hand, being subjected to disrespect for one’s abilities, work, and traits erodes a person’s identity, social integration and self-esteem. Methodologically this is a qualitative study that draws on data from twenty in-depth interviews with rural teachers in the state of Victoria (geographically the same size as Denmark or the United Kingdom). Teachers participating in this study were working in rural public schools in the Northwestern region of the state. This region has the highest rate of teacher vacancy showing the difficulties to recruiting and retaining staff. The analysis of interview data reveals that teachers’ job satisfaction is anchored in interpersonal practices of recognition that support individuals’ sense of self and decision to stay. It shows that the structure and organisation of rural schools provide a space for robust intersubjectivity and the construction of rural teachers’ professional identity. Further, findings show that symmetrical relations of recognition with students and solidaristic practices with colleagues were key reasons for teachers to stay. Ultimately, this study aligns with perennial concerns in European education research: spatial inequality and shortage of rural staffing (see Beach et al., 2018; Gristy et al., 2020; Lund & Karlberg-Granlund, 2023). It offers a novel approach to these issues by focusing on fresh evidence on the motivations and resources that enable teachers to stay working in a rural community.

Beach, D., From, T., Johansson, M., & Öhrn, E. (2018). Educational and spatial justice in rural and urban areas in three Nordic countries. Education Inquiry, 9(1), 4–21. Cuervo, H. (2023). Theorizing cultural (mis) recognition in rural school staffing: Implementing a social justice frame to understand challenges to attract rural teachers. The Rural Educator, 44(1), 28-39. Gristy, C., Hargreaves, L., & Kučerová, S. R. (2020). Educational research and schooling in rural Europe: An engagement with changing patterns of education, space and place. IAP. Honneth, A. (1995). The Struggle for Recognition. MIT Press. Huttunen, R., & Heikkinen, H. L. (2004). Teaching and the dialectic of recognition. Pedagogy, Culture and Society, 12(2), 163-174. Lund, S., & Karlberg-Granlund, G. (2023). Making rural areas attractive for teachers and principals: Putting rural educational settings on the agenda. Nordic Studies in Education/Nordisk Pedagogik, 43(2), 181-196.

According to Berg-Olsen (2008), the quality of teaching varies between schools in rural and urban areas. Berg-Olsen argued that this variation was due to differences in teacher competence. An interesting question that arises today is: what kinds of competencies—or needs for competence—are we addressing now? A research overview by Vestheim (2024) shows that much of the research we rely on is 10–15 years old and that the benefits associated with small schools and multi-grade classrooms have largely been overlooked by researchers and others. Consequently, this has facilitated arguments in favor of school closures. The argument here is that there is a need for more recent research and perspectives on small and combined schools. For example, a recent study by Lund and Kaldberg-Granlund (2023) shows that small schools in Sweden and Finland have much more in common with each other than, for instance, small and large schools within Sweden. As part of a collaboration between a research group at Nord University and a rural region in Norway, a new course has been developed specifically for teaching in multi-grade classrooms. Students enrolled in this course completed a written assignment reflecting on their own experiences in multi-grade classrooms or small schools. This was followed by formulating a clearly defined problem or question related to various challenges they had encountered and describing the strategies they used to address these challenges. According to Eide and Brekke (2021), working with one’s own experiences from the field of practice provides a valuable starting point for triggering reflection on pedagogical knowledge and competence. This led me to the following research question: What kinds of challenges do teachers write about? The data consists of 29 texts written by teachers from across the country, collected during the spring of 2025. These texts were analyzed using the Constant Comparative Method (Corbin & Strauss, 2008). Preliminary results raise the question of whether the course meets teachers’ needs and can contribute to their professional development in practice. In this context, it is interesting to examine theory at three different levels: T1, T2, and T3, as problematized by Ertsås and Irgens (2023). The particular relevance lies in theorizing experiences from practice as part of a process of competence development for teachers.

Berg-Olsen, A. (2008). Omsorg eller formål: Rasjonalitet og dilemmaer i fådeltskolen. [Doktorgradsavhandling. UiT] Corbin, J. & Strauss, A. (2008). Basics of qualitative research. Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory (3rd ed.). SAGE Eide, M. L. & Brekke, M. B. R. (2021). Fortelling fra praksis som inngang til pedagogisk kunnskap. Praksisfortelling som undervisningspraksis og læringsform i lærerutdanningen. Högre utbildning, 11(2), 14–20. http://dx.doi.org/10.23865/hu.v11.2754 Ertsås, T. I. & Irgens, E. J. (2023). Developing organizational knowledge in schools: The role of theory and theorizing in collective capacity building. Journal of Educational Change, 24(1), 25–48. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10833-021-09433-3 Lund, S., & Karlberg-Granlund, G. (2023). Making Rural Areas Attractive for Teachers and Principals: Putting Rural Educational Settings on the Agenda. Nordic Studies in Education, 43(2), 181–196. https://doi.org/10.23865/nse.v43.3983 Vestheim, O. P. (2024). En kamp om anerkjennelse: Lærerliv i fådelte skoler. I O. P. Vestheim & I. Elden (red.), Lærerliv i en mangfoldig norsk skole (s. 119 - 136). Fagbokforlaget

In Finland hundreds of small schools have been closed in recent decades due to demographic changes and political decisions (Lehtonen, 2021). School closures and mergers affect accessibility, resulting in longer journeys for pupils. It is mainly small and medium-sized schools that are being closed or merged into larger units (Finnish National Agency for Education, 2025). Pupils' safety is minimised when the journey time to school, including waiting times, becomes unreasonably long for pupils in peripheral areas who have to travel long distances to a central school (Lehtonen, 2021). One characteristic of the smallest schools is that pupils are taught in mixed-age classes consisting of pupils from two or more year groups, which requires broad pedagogical skills on the part of the teachers (Karlberg-Granlund, 2009). In addition to financial reasons for school closures, pedagogical reasons are therefore sometimes put forward. However, the competence of teachers and school principals and their job satisfaction are keys to ensuring that pupils’ access to equal and good education in small school units, even in remote areas. It would be important to focus more on rural realities in teacher education, continuing professional development and research, to create a sustainable future, support teachers' pedagogical competence, and prepare future teachers for work in different contexts (Lund & Karlberg-Granlund, 2023; Karlberg-Granlund, 2019). A cornerstone of the so-called ‘Nordic model of education’ is to create equal opportunities for education for all students regardless of location or background (Frønes, et al., 2020), which is also a central core value in Finnish legislation. Despite this, curricula are often adapted to urban contexts (Bæck, 2016). It would be important to create sustainable strategies to ensure good and equal education in rural and sparsely populated areas. The potential of remote connections and distance learning to create equal opportunities for education is becoming increasingly important, as student numbers are declining in many municipalities and financial resources are being tightened (Hongisto, Kalalahti & Varjo 2025). In this presentation we will discuss how a network for teachers and school principals in small schools could be established with the aim of supporting the long-term sustainable development and quality of small schools. Similar initiatives have earlier been taken in Sweden (Lund & Jaldemark, 2024). The aim of the network will be to create meeting places and based on identified needs, contribute to collegial learning within and between small schools.

Bæck, U.-D. K. (2016). Rural location and academic success. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 60(4), 435-448. Frønes, T. S., Pettersen, A., Radišić, J. & Buchholtz, N. (eds.) (2020). Equity, Equality and Diversity in the Nordic Model of Education. Springer. Hongisto, P., Kalalahti, M. & Varjo, J. (2025) Distance learning and the organisation of basic education in the future. University of Helsinki. Karlberg-Granlund, G. (2009). Understanding the great in the small: Pedagogy, culture and structure of the village school]. Doctoral thesis. Åbo Akademi University Press. Karlberg-Granlund, G. (2019). Exploring the challenge of working in a small school and community: Uncovering hidden tensions. Journal of Rural Studies, 72(2019), 293–305. Lehtonen, O. (2021). Primary school closures and population development – is school vitality an investment in the attractiveness of the (rural) communities or not? Journal of Rural Studies, 82, 138–147. Lund, S., & Jaldemark, J. (2024). Supporting small remote school teachers’ professional development through networked learning designs. Proceedings of the International Conference on Networked Learning, 14(1). Lund, S., & Karlberg-Granlund, G. (2023). Making Rural Areas Attractive for Teachers and Principals: Putting Rural Educational Settings on the Agenda. Nordisk Pedagogik, 43(2), 181–196. National Agency for Education (2025). www.oph.fi/sv/statistik/lagesoversikt-over-den-svensksprakiga-utbildningen-den-grundlaggande-utbildningen

Based on data from three R&D&I projects conducted in Spain on “Challenging stigmatization: creative and inclusive educational discourses and practices with digital media in schools of special complexity” (PID2020-112880RB-100); Policies and practices in compulsory education (PID2023-148480OB-I00); and Strategies for depopulation: a multidisciplinary approach to integrated, inclusive, and dynamic management (LMP92_21), this paper explores the presence of the voices of families and the community in the practices of these schools. Its purpose is to generate knowledge about how teachers can engage with their schools to address the challenges of depopulation and school closures, committing to equipping people with the skills, attitudes, and values necessary for resilience in a neoliberal context (Mizrav, 2023). The paper addresses what teachers are doing in relation to these practices when they use digital media in schools identified as “difficult” due to their location in remote geographical areas. While much of the discourse on rural depopulation has emphasized the importance of services such as schools in ensuring that people remain in rural areas (e.g., Corbett, 2016; Cuervo, 2016), the role of teachers in these schools and the importance of curricular activities in relation to the consideration of families and communities are critical points. Conflicting conclusions from research suggest that the activities, content, and organization of the curriculum may, in fact, work against the interests of local rural communities rather than promote them, due to the presence and effects of external values (cf. Roberts and Downes, 2016; Vigo-Arrazola and Lasheras-Lalana, 2025), and that may work against the maintenance of rural communities (Bagley et al., 2024; Rosvall et al., 2018). In this regard, it is argued that the way in which educational practices are approached and developed with the community is important for the future of rural communities (Roberts and Downes, 2016). Using critical ethnography and data from multiple sites, the findings add to existing knowledge about what teachers consider important when working in these schools. They indicate two clear points. The first is that teachers develop practices that incorporate families and the community. The second is that community voices are only recognised to collaborate in the development of an external curriculum, which creates tensions and contradictions in relation to the future of rural spaces, maintaining historical social relations of production (Massey, 1994/2013). In addition to these findings, the paper highlights the need for dialogue between researchers and participants to incorporate critical reflective practices.

Bagley, C., Beach, D., Fargas-Malet, M., & Vigo-Arrazola, B. (2024). Troubling rurality and rural schooling: a qualitative meta-synthesis of research in rural schools in three European national school systems. Critical Studies in Education, 1-17. Corbett, M. (2016). Rural futures: Development, aspirations, mobilities, place, and education. Peabody Journal of Education, 91(2), 270-282. Cuervo, H. (2016). Understanding social justice in rural education. Springer. da Silva, S. M. (2023). Local knowledge integrated in learning experiences: The case of schools and communities from rural border regions of the mainland Portugal. Australian and International Journal of Rural Education, 33(2), 50-66. Mizrav, E. (2023). Segregate, discriminate, signal: A model for understanding policy drivers of educational inequality. Educational Policy, 37(2), 554-581. Roberts, P., & Downes, N. (2016). Conflicting messages: Sustainability and education for rural-regional sustainability. Rural Society, 25(1), 15-36. Rosvall, P. Å., Rönnlund, M., & Johansson, M. (2018). Young people's career choices in Swedish rural contexts: Schools' social codes, migration and resources. Journal of rural studies, 60, 43-51. Vigo-Arrazola, B., & Lasheras-Lalana, P. (2025). Rethinking the use of digital media for sustainability, inclusion and personal well-being. European Educational Research Journal.