Educational Research in Rural Europe: State, Status, and the Road Ahead

To conclude this book on research in rural education in 11 European countries, and the patterns of change that it has revealed, we now foreground the forward-looking strategies that have emerged in the preceding chapters. This is not to suggest transplantation of policies or solutions between countries: such schemes frequently fail (Phillips, 2009; Raffe, 2011). Instead, it offers ways of thinking about small, rural, isolated, and peripheral schools’ futures. Before that, however, we consider the nature and status of rural educational research in Europe based on the chapters presented here. If rural educational research is to exert an impact on policy, it must achieve greater visibility in the mainstream of educational research.