Using ICT to overcome barriers in rural areas

Tannbergs upper secondary school in Lycksele, Sweden is the only school within a 50-kilometre radius and serves a diverse student population, including a significant Sami community. However, a severe shortage of Sami language teachers poses a significant challenge. This is tackled by cooperating with other schools to organise joint Sami language courses. This collaboration helps pool resources and expertise, ensuring that students in this remote area can have quality education in their native language. By collaborating with other schools and using digital tools, the school can also offer lessons for languages like French, German and Spanish.

Tordinci Primary School is situated in a secluded rural area of eastern Croatia, which has low socioeconomic status and limited access to resources. The school faced challenges including low student enrolment, teacher and pupil isolation and a scarcity of targeted teacher training.

The school therefore adopted a multifaceted approach. Environmental activities, entrepreneurship and digitalisation were integrated into the curriculum and school activities – leveraging digital tools to enhance outdoor learning experiences, equipping classrooms with smartboards and laptops and providing tablets to students.

Read more about these two schools in the Rural Schools under Focus report.

Connecting with science centres and museums

The cooperative Virtual Pathways project integrated digital learning possibilities into scientific teaching and learning. It offered transformative educational possibilities by forging connections between educational institutions and scientific museums and centres, including those in rural areas. They developed students' transversal skills by bringing real-world scientific projects into the classroom and testing and assessing their strategies, methodologies and tools in 200 schools across four countries: Finland, Sweden, Greece and Italy.

Teaming up with the local community

Many rural schools benefit from close contact with local groups, and can become an integral part of the local ecosystem.

The surrounding nature is strongly embedded in school life on the remote Arranmore Island, Ireland. Closeness to nature offers physical and mental benefits and concrete outdoor learning opportunities. Collaboration with the local community is also strong. The school works with local medical staff (who have taught first aid skills), companies and entrepreneurs; for example, a local businesswoman organised media training for the students and involved them in activities with the local community.

eTwinning projects supporting learning in rural areas

In rural and remote areas, the role of digital education in boosting learning experiences is particularly crucial, making education more accessible and interesting. Through eTwinning, rural schools can enhance their global cooperation, pupils’ digital skills and intercultural understanding.

• The primary school in Velika Dolina, Slovenia has a strong cooperation with the local community, but thanks to eTwinning, the pupils can also feel a part of a wider international community.
• Students work together to raise environmental awareness in the Italian Apennines, demonstrating the vital role that education plays in solving environmental issues.
• A lower secondary school in Weitensfeld, Austria is surrounded by mountains and lakes, but actively incorporates technology and digital tools to boost intercultural understanding and language learning among its pupils.
• Many Spanish rural schools have integrated eTwinning as part of their daily routine. The school in Marinaleda town in Andalusia has a progressive approach to education in a small-town context, encouraging pupils to think creatively, investigate novel concepts and hone their problem-solving abilities. Meanwhile, a school group in La Rioja has used eTwinning to benefit teachers’ professional development.