Two key political issues affect small and rural schools in Europe: efficiency and unequal access to education. 

In November 2019, the Steering Committee of European Schoolnet created the Small and Rural Schools Interest Group to explore issues of mutual concern related to small schools at a European level.  

About the Interest group 

The Small and Rural Schools Interest Group is composed of 13 countries (Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Poland, Serbia, Sweden, Slovakia, Spain and Türkiye). It is supported by European Schoolnet and INDIRE — the National Institute for Documentation, Innovation and Educational Research, which is the Italian Ministry of Education's oldest research organisation.  

 

The objectives of this Interest Group are to: 

• 1. Collect and share different research findings across European countries. 
• 2. Work at the European level on the collection and sharing practices on the use of ICT to overcome isolation. 
• 3. Collect and share experiences on learning practices in multi-age classes. 
• 4. Collect and share experiences on models of school organisation and links with local communities. 
• 5. Consider the opportunity to offer an open community of practices for all practitioners working in small and rural schools, and the chance to create a European network of small rural schools. 
• 6. Offer a capacity-building programme for small and rural schools in Europe. 

Latest activities and outcomes 

In 2024, this interest group created a MOOC for small rural schools as part of the European Schoolnet Academy. The course will open on 29 September 2025 and will consist of four modules. 

The core aims of the 'Smart schooling and networking' MOOC are to offer practical tools, inspire ideas and provide a supportive community to help teachers and educators in small and rural schools.  

Through the four modules, educators will discover innovative leadership approaches, flexible classroom organisation, multi-age teaching methods, and ways to actively engage parents and local communities. During the course, real-life examples from 24 schools in 12 countries will be shared to illustrate how to turn challenges such as under-capacity and teacher isolation into opportunities for personalised, community-based learning. 

 

    

 

In 2023, the Small and Rural Interest Group presented its first publication titled "Rural schools under focus". The publication features 11 monographies, covering 11 countries (Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Poland, Serbia, Sweden and Spain) in 11 languages, the executive summary and a comparative analysis of the findings of these monographies. 

Here you can find: 

The full research report

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The executive summary (also available in French)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The monographies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Data Interest Group was created to better understand and discuss the benefits and challenges of digitally processed data on student learning. The topic has become particularly important for education since the emergency move online of teaching and learning during the pandemic. In 2023, the members of the Interest Group have addressed in particular the question of Learning Analytics, in a discussion building on a presentation by Barbara Wasson, University of Bergen about Four Dilemmas from the perspective of Norway. The dilemmas discussed were the following: the need for information versus the need for data protection; learning as an Individualised process versus social process; centralisation versus autonomy; and competence needs versus competence reality.

In 2024 the Data interest group had one meeting focusing on data literacy, which was supported by a presentation of the Erasmus+ DALI Project, Data literacy for citizenship. The group also discussed ‘Educational data flow – a case study of Switzerland'. The discussion was supported by an overview of the search for a data governance model for the Swiss education sector and a presentation from the Educa project Digital education data pathways. Participants exchanged news and recent developments from their countries regarding the governance, monitoring and use of data in education.