Conceptualising small rural school-community relationships within a divided society: people, meanings, practices and spaces

Small rural schools have often been characterised as being at the heart of their communities. However, there is no clarity on what that means nor on the perceived meaning of ‘community’ within this context. The findings of the Small School Rural Community Study focused on the relationship between small rural schools and the communities they serve within the post-conflict context of Northern Ireland’s religiously divided schooling system. Using survey data and qualitatively derived data from this three-year study, we explore the ways in which community is understood and conceptualised by school principals, staff, parents, pupils and community members, in five case study areas. Similarly to another research study, our findings suggest that community can be conceptualised as having four key dimensions: people; meanings; practices; and spaces. The study found that a range of ‘community practices’ happened in school and around school, and that these practices had attached meanings, with schools helping to develop a sense of belonging and pride in the community, sometimes even a sense of ‘shared space’. Drawing on these key dimensions, the paper provides a theoretical framework of ‘community’ to expand our understanding of school-community relations and the potential value of small rural schools beyond simply the educational.