Las escuelas rurales desde sus debilidades hasta sus fortalezas: análisis actual

Abstract

Thanks to the joint struggle of rural teachers and other social agents, since the end of the 20th century, the reviled image of rural schools has been reversed and their potential has become evident, until they are now perceived as educational institutions of great value. This paper analyses the current situation of rural schools. Specifically, it aims to look in depth at its strengths and weaknesses, emphasising four aspects which stand out in previous studies: organisation of the school, teaching team, students, relationship with families and material resources. This is based on a set of in-depth interviews and a survey, carried out in the first phase of the project, aimed at 240 representatives of the management teams of the nursery, primary, compulsory secondary, secondary school and vocational training centres in the province of Lleida, of which 71 were rural schools. The quantitative results, limited to schools located in rural environments and analysed in this study, show that the rural school is full of potential thanks largely to an organisation that makes the most of limited resources and makes it possible to create better coordinated working environments. The involvement of families is also highlighted and a very positive view of the school climate and good coexistence in rural schools is detected, an issue that has not been identified in recent scientific literature on this type of centre.