Chapter 9: Small Rural Primary Schools in Austria: Places of Innovation?

Austria has many small rural primary schools, due to topological conditions and a hitherto rather strong political support for small and very small rural schools, especially in the western part of the country. In this chapter, insights into small rural schools are provided, based on the Interreg project Small Schools in Alpine Regions (2012–2015). In this transnational research project, a team of researchers from the Universities of Teacher Education in Vorarlberg (Austria) and the two Swiss cantons Grisons and St. Gallen, investigated the work of head teachers, of teachers in small rural schools, and of teaching and learning practices in mixed age classes (Raggl, 2015; Raggl, Smit, & Kerle, 2015). This project continued previous research from an earlier project, Schools in Alpine Regions (2009–2011) in these regions and, in addition, in the Swiss canton Valais (Müller, Keller, Kerle, Raggl, & Steiner, 2011). Case studies in these two projects showed that small rural schools are portrayed as places of innovation by some of their head teachers (Raggl, 2015). Two of the participating Austrian small rural primary schools have each developed a special profile as a Montessori school. In this chapter the potential and challenges of innovative small schools are discussed along with the consequences of increasing diversity of schooling and the possibilities of choice for those with the necessary economic, social, and cultural capitals (Bourdieu, 1986).