Annual Report 2016, Dublin

ECER 2016 was a great success for NW14 as we increased the number of the papers received as well as their quality. For the first reviewing period NW14 received 111 proposals. Twenty reviewers participated in the process, and we used a double-review system. Of those original proposals, 85 (71%) were accepted,16 (18%) were rejected and 10 (11%) were redirected to other NWs. For the second reviewing period, NW14 received ten proposals, redirected from other Networks. Of those 10, we accepted six proposals and rejected the other four.

Before programme planning started, NW14 had 91 presentations, including: 77 papers, 4 posters and 10 symposia. Of those 77 papers, 12 of them were submitted within the “schooling in rural and urban settings” (topic 1), 6 were submitted under “place-based education” (topic 2), 7 were submitted within “school-related transitions within a life course perspective” (topic 3), 28 were submitted within “family education and parenting” (topic 4), 10 were submitted within “policies and actions related to co-operation and dialogue among social actors” (topic 5) and 14 were considered as not fitting any of the topics.

Six of the symposia were submitted under topic 1, one was submitted under topic 2, one under topic 3, and two under topic 5. One of the posters was submitted under topic 1, two under the topic 4 and one under topic 5.

During ECER2016, NW14 hosted 31 sessions, including 3 Joint Paper Sessions, two of them with NW19 and one with NW8, respectively, and 1 Joint Symposium Session with NW4.

For ECER 2016 NW14 had a wide international participation with people from many different EU countries as well as scholars from out of EU.



The Network Meeting took place on Thursday, August 25th, at 12h. It was chaired by the NW's Link Convenor and had an attendance of around 35 people.
Participants at the NW Meeting emphasized the excellent organisation for this ECER. The quality of the conference was also highlighted, and in particular for NW14 the quality of the sessions also increased. The venue was considered very good, including rooms, infrastructure and internet connection.

Overall, the sessions were very well attended. Participants to the NW meeting highlighted the quality and relevance of the discussions in the sessions.

For ECER2016, Network 14 issued a Special Call, on “Rural Schools as Hubs for the Socio-Educational Development of the Community ", proposed by Joana Lúcio, Robyn Henderson and Karen Noble (NW14 co-convenors). This special call resulted in a 4-part symposium and included contributions from Spain, Australia, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Scotland, Colombia, USA, Portugal and Sweden. Inspired by the special call there were other paper sessions within the topic and a 2-part symposium  'Educational Research and Schooling in Rural Europe: An Engagement with Changing Patterns of Education, Space and Place’, proposed by Linda Hargreaves and Cath Gristy, which extended the international contributions already listed to include Norway, Serbia, Czechia, Finland, and England. Participants in the Network Meeting noted the great response to the special call, which resulted in very well-attended and successful sessions.

Beyond the Special Call, NW14 established closer relations with other networks. We hosted four joint sessions with three different NWs:

• a symposium with NW4 – Inclusive Education, on the theme of “Transforming the Learning Experience Beyond the School Walls: Creating Inclusive Spaces for Children and Youth in and out of School;
• two paper sessions with NW19 – Ethnography with the titles “Rural Schools, Communities and Cultures” and “Geographies of Opportunities, Participation and Mobility”,
• and a one paper session with NW8 – Health Education under the name “Interventions to Promote Wellbeing: Schools and Community”

All these sessions had a good attendance rate (over 20 people in both cases) and were assessed as successful.

Unlike the previous years, NW14 did not host an Interactive Poster Session, but we had mixed poster-paper sessions organized according with the topic of the research presented. These sessions facilitated discussion among participants. However, the visibility of the posters is less than standing in the main poster session. We discussed this issue at the NW meeting, and there were more positions in favour to come back to the general poster session for ECER 2017.

Regarding other planned activities, the authors of ECER2016's special call are currently working in a special issue publication, to feature over 14 contributions authored by participants in the 4-part symposium.

Cath Gristy and other colleagues in the Network had a meeting of rural educational researchers held in Budapest last year. This led to a successful book proposal, and meeting of authors in Dublin, with very good progress on contributions.