In the Interreg project ‘Small Schools in Alpine Regions’, a transnational project of Universities of Teacher Education in two Swiss cantons (Grisons and St. Gallen) and Vorarlberg (A) the teaching and learning practices in multi-age classes of small rural schools are in the centre of the research interest. All teachers and headteachers of small rural schools of the three regions were asked to take part in a survey (data collection January/February 2013). This provides broad insights into teaching and learning practices in small rural schools. Next to the questionnaire case studies of 10 creative small schools in each region will be developed in the next months. The study aims to explore the teaching and learning practices of small rural schools with age-mixed classes and the specific chances for innovative and creative teaching and learning. The main research questions are: (i) What are the main teaching and learning practices in the small schools involved? (ii) What are the possibilities and constraints for creative teaching and learning? (iii) Which innovative potentials of small rural schools do teachers and headteachers experience? The study is a mixed methods study with quantitative and qualitative methods.