This symposium addresses the research question: How do leaders of small school meet the challenges of the urban pull? Four international contexts are portrayed using a range of qualitative approaches, from an interpretive approach to a theoretically based sociological approach. In each of the five papers presented in the symposium, the researchers speak of the tensions, dilemmas, demands and contradictions experienced, in contexts of isolation, curricular reform, declining populations, transient students, inexperienced teachers, and novice leaders. The political landsacpaes against which the challenges are faced bear similarities, despite the dramatic differences of the physical landscapes: high levels of accountability from central educational authorities and governments; declining resources; and relentless change. Implicit in all papers that comprise the symposium are the questions: why do leaders resist the pull of the urban, and how are they supported and sustained?

The Norwegian paper addresses contexts characterised by isolation and multiculturalism, with student populations of Sami, Norwegian and Russian heritage. The Finnish paper confronts the impact of school closures on communities. The first of two Australian papers draws attention to an innovative approach to working against the trends of social disadvantage to provide resourcing for the most difficult of Australia's schools. The English paper investigates the micro-pilotics of small schools at a time of dramatic shifts in political, social and cultural change. The last paper examines the support that can be provided by local structures, such as the District Office, as it has been known in Western Australia.

Together the papers paint a picture of the ways the contemporary challenges faced by leaders of small schools are shaped by their respective political, social, economic and cultural contexts, and how local initiatives are developed to contend with the deamnds and tensions of leaders' work.