School and the future of rural world

Abstract

This article synthesizes the problematic, the methodology and the main outcomes of a research work, undertaken for almost twenty years, in rural schools and communities, of the Northeastern Alentejo, in the South of Portugal. The rural school is seen as much more than a mere education institution, rather as an important local node for the promotion of the communities. It is this way of participation of school in the development of the communities that is considered to be able to extend the possibilities of its transformation and of innovation of its pedagogical practice. In one ethnographic kind of research, enhancing the “being inside” of the intervention, as the researcher’s personal and professional landmark, conclusions are drawn about the impact of a long term project in rural communities, in four areas. In the changes in school organization, since it tests the school model and the forms of pedagogical organization that support it, given the more intense relationships that were intended to be established with the community. In the children’s education and experience dimension, enriched by the diversity of ages and school levels in the educative process, by the participation of other actors in this process, beyond the teachers and, mainly, by the confrontation between local culture and school culture. In the scope of animation and local development, as the school practices contributed to a process of identity reconstruction in the rural communities, having school, on the other hand, integrated partnerships for the solution of problems, such as of the social support to the elderly, or for the creation of services, such as communitarian museums or centers. Finally, in the area of the teachers’ training and professional development, gradually stressing the social component of their work, helping to reconstruct the meaning of this work and the development of competences in a cooperative process of training with the peers and in a network of schools and communities.