The paper discusses local responses to schooling policy in the context of the uneven differentiation and sharp social polarisation of the Hungarian countryside. Counter-urbanisation, on the one hand, has brought affluent urban middle classes to suburban spaces, on the other hand, peripheral areas are becoming impoverished with high unemployment,…

This paper reviews 25 years of research on small rural schools in England, in a period of unprecedented educational reform, and shift in government policy on small schools from persistent threat of closure through a period of a centrally funded "presumption against closure" in the early 2000s. It notes a dearth of funded or peer-reviewed…

This paper reviews research on small rural primary schools in Finland and analyses it under three thematic foci: the relationship between the local rural school and the surrounding community, the small rural primary school as a learning environment, and the teachers' profession in this context. Over 30% of Finnish primary schools are small rural…

Reviews the impact of local-management-of-schools funding formulae on schools of different size. Examines the ways that over 80 local education authorities (LEAs) have defined formulae to protect their small schools and reports the effect of the change to formula funding from 27 LEAs to describe the pattern of "winning" and…

One school in Canada's Exemplary Schools Project, Grandy's River Collegiate, is a rural high school threatened with closure because it does not meet Newfoundland's new "viability" requirements (primarily involving school size). Compares characteristics of several types of schools, and suggests that schools such as Grandy's are suited to…

Despite frequent criticisms of small schools, evidence collected over the last decade indicates that smaller English primary schools offer a curriculum and maintain standards compatible with those offered by larger institutions. In recent years, informal clustering arrangements have enabled small schools to increase the range of subjects offered,…

A rural British Columbia K-12 school facing closure due to declining population implemented intentional learning, student-directed learning, and learning groups as core units for developing communities of learners. A computer-managed learning system and online scheduling enables delivery of a full range of courses despite decreases in teaching…

On September 10, 1996, the government of Newfoundland and Labrador (Canada) announced that public consultation on education reform would begin on September 16. Just prior to the first hearing, the government circulated a document entitled "Structuring the Education System: A Public Consultation Paper for Educational Change in Newfoundland and…

Examines factors currently affecting the viability of small elementary schools (90 students or less) in England and Wales. While centralization of educational control since 1988 has worsened the educational and economic environment for small schools, locally based support strategies (interschool cooperation, anti-closure campaigns, voluntary fund…

In Ontario, nearly half of the elementary schools have fewer than 300 students, and one quarter of the high schools have fewer than 600 students. However, the province's funding formula was designed for larger schools. Small schools in Ontario are operating without adequate staff and resources and are at risk of being closed. Since 1999, 192…

Because of increased demands for curriculum expertise and constricted funding, many small rural elementary schools in the United Kingdom have created consortia, allowing groups of schools to share resources and facilities and cooperatively plan for meeting educational standards. Describes cluster development and concludes that loss of school…