By Andreas Schleicher, OECD Director for Education and Skills
Urban schools tend to have significant advantages over rural schools. When it comes to resources, urban schools often receive more funding, allowing for better facilities, educational materials, and technological advancements. They can also offer students more diverse educational opportunities and better access to higher education and careers. For example, their location near colleges and universities can facilitate dual-enrollment programs and college visits and their proximity to businesses and industries can provide more opportunities for internships, job shadowing or career exploration. Not least, it’s easier for urban schools to attract qualified teachers and specialists, allowing for a more diverse and specialised staff, which is often amplified by better access to professional development and career advancement opportunities in urban areas.
And yet, the latest PISA round reveals one hidden asset of rural schools: students in rural areas tend to report greater support from their teachers: Among the countries where teacher support was measurably different between urban and rural schools, 28 countries and economies showed greater teacher support in rural areas and just 3 greater teacher support in urban areas (defined by PISA as areas having more than 100 000 inhabitants). In some countries, the difference is large: In Slovakia, Bulgaria and Poland, it was close to or exceeding half a standard deviation on the PISA index of teacher support. This is important, because PISA shows teacher support to be an important predictor for the cognitive, social and emotional development of students: For example, students who felt that their teachers were available when they needed help during the pandemic, were more confident in learning on their own, and where students felt their teachers were available they also scored roughly a school year better (Figure II.2.12). Not least, countries where teacher support improved over the last years were generally also the ones where learning outcomes improved.
There are a number of factors that could contribute to this. Rural schools are often supported by tight-knit communities, and can reinforce these. Rural schools often also emphasize core community values, traditions, and a sense of belonging. Strong ties to the local community can lead to higher levels of involvement from local businesses and organizations and students in rural areas often have more opportunities to engage in community service and local projects. Not least, rural schools often have a more stable student population, leading to fewer disruptions in the learning environment, with students staying in the same environment throughout their education, and fostering long-term relationships with peers and educators.
One feature of rural schools, and a factor that could contribute to improved student-teacher relationships, could be a smaller school size. Indeed, PISA supports this hypothesis: Among the countries/economies with measurably different levels of teacher support between large and small schools (defined here in relative terms by the top and bottom quarters in each country) 37 countries and economies show greater teacher support in the smallest quarter of schools and just 2 countries showed greater teacher support in large schools. The smaller numbers of students and teachers makes it easer for everyone to know everybody and, together with smaller student/teacher ratios, allow for more individualized attention and support for each student and for teachers to develop deeper connections with students.
Of course, all of this needs to be seen in context and, overall, the odds remain stacked against small schools, which often face significant challenges related to limited resources, course offerings, extracurricular opportunities, and access to specialized services.
Rapidly shrinking school-age populations force many governments to consolidate small rural schools. There are often good reasons for doing so and school consolidations can open up important new opportunities, such as creating a broader array of courses for students, strengthening teacher collaboration and professional development, or simply freeing up resources for other important investments in education. But it will be good for policy-makers to look at the full picture, and to take account of the hidden assets of rural schools, before taking the difficult decision to close a school and take the heart out of a village.
