Session Information
14 SES 02 B, Schooling in Rural Settings.
Paper Session
Contribution
Generally pedagogy or sociology of education are considered as the core of education research. Such disciplines focus most frequently on issues, which apply directly to the education process (e.g. its aims, organization, evaluation, methods), on activities within educational institutions (e.g. school management, interpersonal relations, the life cycle of participants) or on phenomena directly connected with the existence of educational institutions (e.g. educational policy, equal access to education, relations between parents and school). This is confirmed, among other things, by the thematic composition of presentations made at the previous conferences of the EERA.
The spatial aspects of education (e.g. Kvalsund 2004) and analysis of their impact on a specific locality, placed in its regional context, are factors that education scientists sometimes miss in the research. Geography, which by definition is the study of regions and the spatial organization of selected phenomena, focuses on these dimensions (Hampl 2000). It is therefore possible to define geography of education as “the study of spatial variations in the provision, uptake and outputs of educational facilities and resources” (Johnston 2000, p. 203). However, very few studies focusing directly on the indicated issues have been conducted within geography (e.g. Bradford 1991). With the exception of a few publications (Marsden 1977; Hones, Ryba 1972) the term “geography of education” is not being used.
The necessity of studying spatial aspects of education and its impact in particular regions is especially apparent in connection with current societal trends, which also educationalists refer to, and the effects of which can be observed at trans-national, state, regional and even local levels. Firstly it is the general process of spatial concentration of population, and corresponding concentration of services to urban, economic centres (Hampl et al. 1999), which leads to depopulation and destabilisation of peripheral rural areas. Where there it is increasingly economically difficult to provide services, including education. School closure leading to additional disadvantages is a direct manifestation of this trend (Dostál, Markusse 1989; Lyson 2002). Moreover, its reasons are only strengthened by a shortage of pupils, resulting from changes in the reproductive behaviour of population in economically developed countries (Caldwell 2006). While rural, peripheral areas are generally less-attractive for immigration and its population is ageing, migrationally attractive urban areas and economic centres are facing school capacity shortages (Hulík et al. 2008). Regional inequalities in development of school network present a spatial dimension to questions of unequal access to education. All of the developments described above also impact the situation in particular localities. Consequently, it is necessary to study the effects of school closure on social stability of local communities and on possibilities of their future development as well (Witten et al. 2001).
Building upon observations described above, our objective is to introduce geography’s potential in education research. We demonstrate the geographic viewing of reality by discussing changes in elementary school network. Specific attention is given to the issue of school closure and its effects on local communities during the second half of the 20th century in a post-communist country, such as Czechia.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
BELL, A., SIGSWORTH, A. (1987): The Small Rural Primary School. Routledge, London. BRADFORD, M. (1991): School-performance indicators, the local residential environment, and parental choice. Environment and Planning A, 23, pp. 319–332. CALDWELL, J. C. (2006): Demographic transition theory. Springer, Dordrecht. DOSTÁL, P., MARKUSSE, J. D. (1989): Rural settlement networks and elementary service provision: two scenarios for the matching of demand and supply. In: Clark, G. et al. (eds.): Planning and the Future of the Countryside. Netherlands Geographical Studies Amsterdam, pp. 62–78. HAMPL, M. (2000): Reality, society and geographical/environmental organization: searching for an integrated order. DemoArt, Prague. HAMPL, M. et al. (1999): Geography of societal transformation in the Czech Republic. DemoArt, Prague. HONES, G., RYBA, R. (1972): Why not a geography of education? Journal of Geography, 71, pp. 135–139. HULÍK, V., ŠÍDLO, L., TESÁRKOVÁ, K. (2008): Míra účasti dětí na předškolním vzdělávání a faktory ovlivňující její regionální diferenciaci. [Children´s participation in preschool education and factors influencing its reginal distribution.] Studia Paedagogica, LVI, pp. 13–34. JOHNSTON, R. J. (2000): Education, geography of. In: Johnston, R. J. et al. (eds.): The Dictionary of Human Geography. Blackwell, Oxford, pp. 203–204. KVALSUND, R. (2004): School and local community – dimensions of change. Research Report no. 58. Volda University College, Volda. LYSON, T. A. (2002): What Does a School Mean to a Community? Assessing the Social and Economic Benefits of Schools to Rural Villages in New York. Journal of Research in Rural Education, 17, pp. 131–137. MARSDEN, W. E. (1977): Historical Geography and the History of Education. History of Education, 6, pp. 21–42. WITTEN, K., McCREANOR, T., KEARNS, R., RAMASUBRAMANIAN, L. (2001): The impacts of a school closure on neighbourhood social cohesion: narratives from Invercargill, New Zealand. Health & Place, 7, pp. 307–317.
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