The topic of small and rural schools offers numerous investigative perspectives within educational research. Digital technologies hold significant potential for “non-standard” educational contexts, driving the need to reconsider the structure of schools based on regional partnerships. After summarizing key international studies that have identified the challenges of using technology in rural educational settings, this paper adopts a phenomenological approach, based on narratives of exemplary cases, to present a diachronic analysis (before, during, and after the pandemic) and exemplify disruptive use of technologies in small schools. The Italian Network of Small Schools promoted by INDIRE has supported numerous transformative scenarios that extend the use of technologies beyond the emergency period and guide small schools into a future where also AI can helps solidify their role as centers of democratic values and quality education.
TopIntroduction On Small Schools: Remoteness, Isolation, And Digital Opportunities
The topic of small and rural schools offers numerous perspectives for investigation within educational research. Among the most relevant study strands are those that focus on the relationship between school and territory (Bartolini et al., 2021; Corbett & White, 2014), studies that rethink the use of technologies and digital materiality to intervene in situations of remoteness (Mangione & Cannella, 2020; Mangione & Calzone, 2020), as well as research that deepens the understanding of the advantages (small class sizes and proximity of the community) (Mangione & Cannella, 2021) and disadvantages (difficulty in incentivizing and retaining highly qualified teachers, multi-grade management, geographical isolation, and difficulty in including children with difficulties) (Azano & Stewart, 2016; Mangione et al., 2017). This attention to situations of greater fragility also follows the pandemic period and the inequity of solutions for distance education for rural learners (EAC, 2020; Mangione et al., 2022).
A complex picture emerges, as small schools are not only found in remote and isolated places but also in inner areas and even, sometimes, in urban centers, perhaps in suburbs with problems of marginality or in historic centers undergoing depopulation (Bartolini et al., 2021). In these educational contexts, the fundamental problem is that of cultural and geographical isolation resulting from territorial positioning and a deficient level of interaction, generated by the minimum number of students and often by the impossibility of connecting classes and complexes, or even classes and the space of the house where children in difficulty are located, due to health problems or the absence of transport and passable roads to get to school (Hyry-Beihammer & Hascher, 2015). Small and rural schools that experience geographical isolation, racial segregation, and limited school and community resources are asked to confront unique challenges (Johnson & Strange, 2007). In these contexts, the idea of educational fragility emerges (Du Plessis & Bailey, 2000; Ryan, 2001) along with a demand from parents for interventions capable of supporting quality educational programs for their children.
Digital technologies can be a key lever for enabling quality distance learning but are limited by rural-urban gaps in information and communication technology (ICT) resources in schools and beyond (Trendov et al., 2019). Non-Standard Teaching Situations (SDiNS) (home schooling, hospital schooling, “disconnected” schooling), or all those school realities that, for their understanding, escape the model of the “normal class,” with attention to rural and peripheral contexts, are better suited than others to interpret the role of digital technologies to promote inclusive, collaborative processes and personalized education (Carenzio & Ferrari, 2021).