In the paper the first two phases of action research on Rural Education Tourism are  presented. According to many indicators, children from rural areas are one of the vulnerable social groups in Serbia. Rural areas in Serbia are generally underdeveloped; regional differences in development are among the highest in Europe (National Economic Development Strategy RS, 2007); the wages are the lowest in rural areas (SBS, 2010); poverty is much more widespread in rural than in urban areas (9.8% and 4.3% respectively) and increase from year to year; the depth and severity of poverty is much higher in rural areas (LSMS, 2008); educational level of rural population is much lower (Census, 2002). The enrollment of rural children by primary schools has been declining from 81.15% in 2005 to 77.4% in 2009, the average for Serbia is 95.2%; dropouts in primary schools are  higher in rural than in urban areas (14.25 % and 5% respectively); rural children achieve significantly lower results on national tests, only half of the national average; primary school completion rate is lower than the national average (74.14% compared to 95.2%);  Serbian GDP education part is small (4%) and negligible part of it goes to education in rural areas; rural schools are much less equipped than city schools. The measures of economic efficiency sometimes violate pedagogical efficiency (e.g. reducing the number of classes, increasing the number of students in the classroom, rationalization/closing small schools instead of optimizing the school network, which further violate the right to quality education for rural children).

            Because of this situation, in the project SustainableTourism forRuralDevelopment, the concept of Rural Education Tourism (RET) is developed. Main pilars in development of RET were: socio-cultural theory (Vygotsky); the Active Learning Program; optimization of school network; and rural and cultural tourism in Serbia. The main focus of RET is that through the development of out-of-school active learning develops specific models and programs for the rural education tourism intended for urban and rural children and their families. RET modules and programs should have a positive feedback effects on the formal education of children (improvement of learning, cognitive and practical skills, life skills, civic education, etc). Various “edutainment” activities (educational, sports’, recreational, cultural, ecological) will increase meaningfulness of learning and generally raise the quality of education for children. Joint activities and exchange of rural and urban children would have important effects on both education and socialization. On the other hand, RET models and programs would change the context in which rural children grow up and improve the conditions of rural education which would consequently lead to long-term reduction of social exclusion. RET is a new model of cultural tourism that will enable rural families to get a new source of income (accommodation, cultural tourism activities), and to foster rural comunities’ economic development. One of the mechanisms of RET’s sustainability is the networking partners in the local community (cooperatives, farms, rural schools, tourist organizations, environmental associations, ethnic associations, etc), where the village school is the central one.

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