NW 14: Reimagine Learning Communities in Rural, Mountainous and Island Areas

Network
NW 14. Communities, Families, and Schooling in Educational Research

Title
Reimagine Learning Communities in Rural, Mountainous and Island Areas

Abstract
ECER/EERA Network 14 invites contributions exploring how schools, families and communities can collaboratively strengthen and reimagine learning communities in rural, mountainous and island areas. Schools in those areas find themselves caught in a dilemma. Population decline and depopulation put them at risk of closure. However, at international level, those schools are promoted as local infrastructures opening up to cultural and natural spaces, digital technologies, families, local authorities and the third sector. 
The Network welcomes theoretical, empirical, and methodological contributions examining how the learning environment becomes permanently integrated with the cultural, social and natural ecosystems of rural, mountainous and island communities.

The Call
At a time where schools are being reshaped to respond to social, demographic, technological and territorial changes (Biesta, 2021), Network 14 invites contributions exploring new forms of educational organisation capable of addressing contemporary challenges and anticipating the future of education for communities in rural, mountainous, or island areas. In line with the scenarios proposed by OECD (2020) and UNESCO (2021), the Network welcomes contributions identifying emerging models of schooling that redefine the relationship between learning, community, educational governance in those contexts.

Local areas and their heritage are closely linked to the communities that inhabit them (Bourdieu, 1985; Gristy, 2020; Woolcock, 2001). Communities choose their areas, they transform them, they create identities and shape organisations in those places, including schools (Corbett, 2020). 

It is well known that community support plays a vital and effective role in creating rich learning environments able at catering diverse learning needs (Cannella, 2024). For instance, the use of different spaces from the traditional classrooms or the possibility of integrating external experts into the teaching staff represent various supports for inclusion. 

Network 14 welcomes contributions examining how learning environments can become permanently integrated with the cultural, social and natural ecosystems of rural, mountainous and island areas (Cleveland et al., 2023; Ferrara & Jacobson, 2019).

Contributions may explore these learning environments through one of the following dimensions:  

• Parents’ role: What is the degree of participation of families in the life of schools, and how are these families involved in shaping shared futures in education?
• Collaboration between schools: How does participation in school networks influence teaching practices and staff professional development? 
• Collaboration with local communities: How can collaboration between schools and local communities (including municipalities and the third sector) shape shared futures in education?

While these dimensions provide valuable lenses through which learning communities in rural, mountainous and island areas can be reimagined, the Network also welcomes broader contributions, representing a range of interrogations and reflecting the changing conditions and potentials of educational research. Submissions may address, but are not limited to, the following questions:

1. What organisational solutions can ensure that schools in rural, mountainous or island areas provide opportunities for everyone?
2. How might collaborative relationships between families and schools enhance teaching and learning?
3. How can local communities get involved to shape shared futures in education?
4. How can challenging scenarios become opportunities for educational innovation and community regeneration?

Contact Person(s)
Dr Giuseppina Cannella, INDIRE, Italy, g.cannella(at)indire.it, ECER/EERA Network 14 Link Convenor

References
Biesta, G. (2021). World-centred-education. London/New York: Routledge.

Bourdieu, P. (1985). The social space and the genesis of groups. Theory and Society, 14(6), 723-744. https://www.jstor.org/stable/657373

Cannella, G. (2024). Building community. The role of third cultural spaces in community educational agreement. In M. Guarcello & A. Longo. School children as agents of change. Routledge.

Cleveland, B., Backhouse, S., Chandler, P., McShane, I., Clinton, J. M., & Newton, C. (2023). Schools as community hubs building ‘more than a school’ for community benefit. Springer

Corbett, M. (2020). Place based education: A critical appraisal from a rural perspective in rural teacher education. Connecting land and people. Springer

Ferrara, J., & Jacobson, R. (2019). Community school. People and places transforming education and communities. Rowman & Littlefield

Gristy, C. (2020). Putting Lefevre to work on ”the rural”. In C. Gristy, L. Hargreaves, & S. R. Kučerová, Educational research and schooling in rural Europe: An engagement with changing patterns of education, space and place. (pp. 303-320). https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-64802-165-720251018

OECD. (2020). Back to the future of education: Four OECD scenarios for schooling. https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/publications/reports/2020/09/back-to-the-future-of-education_4fa8c90a/178ef527-en.pdf 

UNESCO, Reimagining our futures together: A new social contract for education. https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/reimagining-our-futures-together-new-social-contract-education

Woolcock, M. (2001). The place of social capital in understanding social and economic outcomes. https://faculty.washington.edu/matsueda/courses/590/Readings/Woolcock%20Soc%20Cap%20Development.pdf