This paper explores the impact of the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act (2010) on the number of schools closures and the geographic location of small schools in Scotland over the past decade. Using Scottish state schools datasets, we compare and contrast the number of schools and their location in 2013 and 2022. This allows us to highlight that (1) closure has affected both primary and secondary schools and (2) ‘small’ has become a rural feature by 2022.  

School closures have always been controversial and the closure process has been widely documented in the world, in particularly in Europe. In a rurality context, small schools are often closed because of their cost due to their low number of pupils or their difficulty to attract and retain staff (Fargas-Malet & Bagley, 2021; Gristy et al., 2020; Kvalsund & Hargreaves, 2009). Some of the consequences of these closures on pupils and communities are well known. For instance, the longer journey to schools they imply impacts pupils’ wellbeing, the sustainability of a community can be jeopardised (Cannella, 2020; Beach et al., 2018; Kvalsund, 2009). In more recent years, this deficit perspective has been challenged and small schools have their own successful features, often associated to their size. Among other things, the literature has highlighted that they can facilitate effective learning opportunities for pupils, the development of innovative delivery by teachers and the inclusion of original curriculum contents (Raggl, 2020; Schafft, 2016; Gristy et al., 2020).

In Scotland, the increasing number of school closures at the turn of 2010s and how these closures were decided raised deep concerns among the public and rural communities (Redford, 2013). Safeguarding rural schools and communities became a key education policy in Scotland by the end of 2000s.

Thus, between 1995 and 2013, 467 schools closed or merged in Scotland with the largest number of closures taking place in 2007, 2010 and 2011. The Act (2010) which details the consultation process which must be followed when a local authority proposes to close a school came into force and was amended in 2012 after consultations (Kidner, 2013). According to latest data, more than 200 schools were closed between 2013 and 2022.

This paper aims to provide a better understanding (1) of the regulatory system implemented to safeguard schools and (2) on the effect of the Act on the closure on rural schools in Scotland over a ten-year period. We will discuss the lessons that can be learnt by Scottish communities and communities elsewhere in Europe from this system.

Our exploration rests on two concepts: ‘small’ and ‘rurality’. As ‘small schools’ are not defined in the current Scottish Government policy documents, our maximum size threshold for primary or secondary schools are those set by Dowling (2009) and Kidner (2013) in their examination of the challenges faced by small schools in Scotland before the introduction of the Act. Our rurality perspective builds on the methodology developed by Lasselle and Johnson (2021) and Lasselle (2021), based on government statistics and definitions. This allows us to compare and contrast two different approaches to measure rurality. The first approach considers the traditional urban/rural divide. The school is then considered either in an urban area, or a rural area. In the second approach a more disaggregated divide is introduced by considering remoteness alongside rural and urban. Our results are derived from the intersection of the ‘rurality’ indicator and the ‘school size’ threshold indicator. This intersection allows us to determine how many schools are within each category enabling us to compare and contrast the distributions of primary schools and secondary schools according to their size and their location in 2013 and in 2022. Our work is data-driven and Scottish-based. However, it can be replicated in many countries with standard rural/urban classification and schools statistics collection including their location and size. The choice of Scotland as a case study is motivated by two reasons. First, the location spectrum of school location is large. It includes remote island, large remote rural areas in the mainland, town in a remote areas allowing us to distinguish various types of communities. Second, school attainment in rural and remote areas is unusual compared to those observed in the rest of the UK and Europe. Indeed, in Scotland, attainment in remote areas can be lower than that observed in more urban areas, following the pattern pointed out by Echazarra and Radinger (2019). However, attainment in rural areas is unusually higher (Lasselle & Johnson, 2021; Scottish government, 2021). Closure in rural areas in terms of educational benefits may become debatable.

Our examination of closures over the period 2013 – 2022 led to two results. First, closures have proportionally more affected secondary schools than primary schools, in particular those located in urban areas. Second, ‘small’ has become a rural feature for both primary and secondary schools. Our paper highlights how the Act (2010) seems to have prevented more rural schools from closure. However, it raises the issue of the role of the communities and their responses to possible closures and their involvement in the consultation process.

Beach, D., Johansson, M., Öhrn, E. et al. (2019) Rurality and education relations; Metro-centricity and local values in rural communities and rural schools. European Educational Research Journal, 18(1), 19-33. Cannella, G. (2020) Globalizing the local and localizing the global: The role of the ICT in isolated mountain and island schools in Italy. In Gristy et al. Dowling, J. (2009) Changes and challenges: Key issues for Scottish rural schools and communities. International Journal of Educational Research, 48, 129-139. Echazarra, A.,& Radinger, T. (2019) Learning in rural schools: insights from Pisa, Talis and the literature. OECD Education Working Paper No. 196. OECD Publishing. Fargas-Malet, M., & Bagley, C. (2021) Is small beautiful? A scoping review of 21st-century research on small rural schools in Europe. European Educational Research Journal, 21(5), 1-23. 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. Information Age Publishing. Kvalsund, R. (2009) Centralized decentralization or decentralized centralization? A review of newer Norwegian research on schools and their communities. International Journal of Educational Research 48(2), 89–99. Kvalsund, R. & Hargreaves, L. (2009) Reviews of research in rural schools and their communities: Analytical perspectives and a new agenda. International Journal of Educational Research, 48(2), 140–149. Kinder, C. (2013) Children and young people (Scotland) Bill: School Closures. SPICe Briefing 13/77. Edinburgh: Scottish Parliament. Echazarra, A.,& Radinger, T. (2019) Learning in rural schools: insights from Pisa, Talis and the literature. OECD Education Working Paper No. 196. OECD Publishing. Lasselle, L. (2021) Depicting Rural Deprivation in a Higher Education Context: A Scottish Case Study. Australian and International Journal of Rural Education, 31(3), 29–42. Lasselle, L. & Johnson, M. (2021) Levelling the playing field between rural schools and urban schools in a HE context: A Scottish case study. British Educational Research Journal, 47(2), 450-468. Raggl, A. (2020) Small rural primary schools in Austria. Places of Innovation? In Gristy et al. Redford, M. (2013) The Political Administration of Scottish Education 2007 – 2012. In Bryce T, Humes W, Gillies D. & Kennedy A. (eds) Scottish Education 4th ed., Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press Schafft, K.A. (2016) Rural education as rural development: Understanding the rural school–community well-being linkage in a 21st-century policy context. Peabody Journal of Education, 91:2, 137-154. Scottish Government (2021) Rural Scotland: Key facts 2021. Scottish Government. https://www.gov.scot/publications/rural-scotland-key-facts-2021/