What Worth Small Rural Schools?*
Gurmit Singh
Abstract
The initial impetus for establishing small rural schools in the countries of
the South Pacific region seems to have come from varied sources —
churches in the early days, governments and communities more recently.
The schools therefore reflect, in varying degrees, the concern for the
education of children in rural areas by the educational authorities on the
one hand and the aspirations of rural communities on the other. This
paper, firstly, attempts an e x a m i n a t i o n of the worth of small rural
schools in terms of their potential for meeting national and c o m m u n a l
e d u c a t i o n a l goals, and secondly, highlights pedagogical issues and
challenges inherent in these schools.
Introduction
A teacher who had been appointed to a place with an u n p r o n o u n c e a b l e
name arrived in the Chief Inspector's office:
"Sir, I have to take the train for 300 miles."
"Very well."
"Then Sir, 1 have to take a coach for 40 miles."
"Very well."
"Then Sir, I have to take a camel."
"Very well."
"But Sir, I'm married!"
"Married, eh! Then take two camels!"
(Percival R Cole, 1937:10)1
I find this episode rather instructive. For, while on the face of it, it
narrates difficulties faced by teachers due to geographical factors of
isolation and distance, 1 suggest it has a second deeper message. The
message is that we ought to provide for the education of children
*Based on a working paper for the Commonwealth Pacific Regional Workshop
on "Improving the Cost Effectiveness of Small Schools", Auckland, 19-26
November 1986
25
irrespective of their parents' or community's location. It is this concern
for providing educational opportunities to the children in rural areas that
justifies small rural schools. This paper is an attempt at exploring the
worth of small2 rural schools in terms of meeting national and communal
aspirations in the first place and then at highlighting pedagogical
advantages, challenges and constraints inherent in small rural schools as
educational institutions. The question as to whether small rural schools
are very costly is posed for discussion at the end.
Small rural schools: tangible result of government policies and
communal aspirations
Most of the early schools in the South Pacific region owe their origin to
missionary efforts. Colonial governments only sporadically came up with
educational plans which resulted in a fairly uneven quantitative ex-
pansion in the education systems across the region. Independence
naturally brought the whole question of development to the fore and
education, among other sectors, received much publicity as an item on
the national agenda for development. The heightened significance of
educational matters at the national level has had several repercussions.
1. It has increased the awareness and expectations of the people
generally of the role of governments in meeting the educational needs
of the children in the country.
2. It has reinforced the value attached to the local school by each
community which continues to view education as a means for the
advancement of its children through achievement and the accepted
reward system (of passing examinations and gaining entry into
tertiary institutions or gaining employment in the public or private
sectors).
3. It has at the same time increased community attachment to the
institution which they own and which they perhaps look upon with
some confidence as a vehicle for preserving and transmitting their
culture, (language and religion in particular), so as to maintain the
community's social well-being and identity.
4. It has also allowed those groups which consider themselves either
disadvantaged or adversely affected by national education policies to
become more vocal in their demands.
I shall attempt to illustrate these points with reference to education in
Fiji.
26
Education in Fiji is a good example of how a system evolves in response
to the perceived educational needs of various communities, aided by the
government, and by social and religious organisations. It also illustrates
how small rural schools have come to occupy a distinct place in the
political, social and cultural thinking and aspirations of the communities
which have either been introduced to, or have themselves established,
schools for their children.
There are 665 primary and 129 secondary schools in Fiji today. Of these
the government owns only 25, 14 primary and 11 secondary schools. The
rest are owned by social and religious organisations but function under
the co-ordination of the Ministry of Education. The government provides
a per capita grant of $12 to primary schools to facilitate fee-free primary
education, trains and pays for primary teachers, meets eighty percent of
salaries for secondary grant-in-aid teachers, provides building grants and
remission of fees for needy secondary students and generally caters for
and regulates professional matters such as curriculum and advisory
services, examinations, schools broadcasts and library services.
However, the policy of the colonial government, endorsed in the post-
independent development plans, has been to accept church and
community initiatives in establishing and running schools. A notable
change after independence was to promote education in the rural areas at
the secondary level by contributing to and encouraging the establishment
of Junior Secondary schools. In the main, however, most of Fiji's schools
can trace their origin and still owe their existence to such sources as the
Christian missions, Indian socio-religious organisations such as the
Sanatan Dharm, the Arya Samaj, the Sangam, the Sikh Society, the
Gujerat Society and the Fiji Muslim League, and the school 'committees'
represent a locality or an interested group of people or association.
In Fiji, the rural sector has come under closer scrutiny since independence
in 1970. The government has been concerned with "a more equitable
distribution" of the benefits of development and in "improving social
conditions, especially in rural areas" (DP9:2.2. lc).3 Rural schools and
rural education also feature fairly prominently in the present Develop-
ment Plan (Chapter 10:135). The government intention is expressed as,
"increasing access to education especially for the rural and urban poor",
and "giving particular emphasis to Fijian education and to students in
rural areas" (p. 138).
27
The small rural schools catering for the children of communities far away
from the administrative centres which control developments were
naturally the last ones to receive much attention from the authorities.
Their establishment and welfare were closely tied to the local people's
fluctuating fortunes. This has fostered a certain affinity and identification
between the people of an area and the institution they have seen suffer
and progress with changing communal circumstances. Acknowledging
the continuing vigilant and active response of the communities, religious
bodies and school committees of one type or another, and alert to the
educational aspirations of the people of Fiji, the 1969 Educational
Commission4 stated,
The history of education in Fiji is largely one of private initiative and
effort. . . It appears that the main reason for this unusual state of affairs is
that the thirst for education among the communities has consistently
outstripped the Government's ability to statisfy it. Consequently , the various
Christian missions, and more recently various other religious and secular
organisations have stepped into the breach (1969:2.13, p.6).
It is also true that around many small rural schools in Fiji revolve a set of
beliefs, expectations and values promulgated and shared by the
community or the organisation promoting the school. This makes the
school a worthwhile and valued institution as it is seen to fit into the
general 'scheme of things', in the overall cultural context of the community
or the organisation concerned. While all schools follow a fairly uniform
curriculum in the region their 'hidden curriculum'could differ markedly.
Add to this the expected benefits from education in terms of career
prospects and mobility of rural children and it is not difficult to realize
why parents often sacrifice their limited resources on building and
maintaining schools. It is suggested here that rural communities view
schools as satisfying their social, cultural and psychological needs as
much as catering for the educational needs of their children. Here are
sketches of four rural primary schools which give some idea of the
school-community relationships:
1. A Fijian primary school5 with three teachers and 47 children who are
taught in three groups as follows: classes 1-2; classes 3-4; and classes
5, 6, 7. The school building, a tin and timber structure was put up by
the village community. Two teachers' quarters are also provided. The
villagers use the school as a cultural centre, use the playground
regularly after school for sports, maintain the school compound and
relate to the teachers according to their cultural values (ie according
them due status in social and cultural ceremonies, looking upon them
28
as important 'cultural' leaders for their children, etc.).
2. Two Indian primary schools6 on either side of a road, each with a roll
of about 200, owned by two separate organisations tracing their
cultural heritage to the northern and southern states of India. While
one school teaches Hindi, the other caters for the South Indian
languages (Tamil, Telugu) and the South Indian culture. This school
has a temple on the school compound, and annual religious and
cultural programmes are organised by the school committee.
3. A new primary school7 recently built entirely by the efforts of the
Fijian and Indian parents. The school has a four-classroom tin and
timber building, piped water supply from a local source and a playing
field. The school, run by the local committee, received the following
assistance from the public:
(a) a $200 and a $100 cash donation each from a farmer and a
labourer respectively;
(b) the donation of the land for the school from the local Fijian
landowners;
(c) donations of items such as office equipment, sports gear, a
transister radio, a wall clock and mats.
4. A secondary school8 on an island serving 5-6 feeder schools, with
boarding facilities. The students from the island no longer move to
urban centres, away from their families and community to board
with their relatives. The school has been built jointly by the
community and the government and offers the normal secondary
school curriculum and prepares students for all external examinations.
These four schools give us some indication of each community's
expectations and commitment to education. These schools, like many
others in the rural areas, carry the hopes and aspirations of the rural
people. Their hopes include the development of their children, continuity
and stability of their communities, preservation and transmission of their
culture, language and values, and above all benefits from the government's
efforts to develop the rural sector, including improvement of its social
and economic conditions. The rural school therefore means much more
to a rural community than merely a place for teaching the three Rs.
Small schools and pedagogical issues: 'Small is Beautiful'
Pedagogical advantages inherent in small schools have been noted and
extolled by those who, like Schumacher (1974)9 argue that "small is
29
beautiful", for it allows one to look at an activity "as if people mattered".
The stories of pioneering one-teacher country schools, though often
nostalgic, do highlight some very sound pedagogical principles. Titles
like, The Schools Everyone Loves10, Nostalgic in the Bicentennial Year",
and Reincarnation of the One Room School-house12 are all suggestive of
good things in small schools. The 'virtues' of small schools are discussed
in terms of their potential for meeting the individual child's needs and
fostering worthwhile educational objectives especially in the area of
personal relationships. For example, Low (1980)13 writes, "Most
Americans can't help but keep a tender spot in their hearts for the 'little
red school-house'. It reminds us of simpler days — before education was
big business, before it became a massive political and social issue." She
quotes a retired head teacher as saying, "The one-room school situation is
very worthwhile —not just scholastically, but socially as well. It's like a
big family with everyone genuinely caring about everyone else," and
concludes, "The one-room school is not likely to come back, but perhaps
its philosophy will. Learning, living, personal responsibility — that was
the essence of the little red school-house." Similar views are expressed by
Huber (1975)14 who argues that, "Most of the innovative concepts and
philosophies found in the contemporary middle-schools existed by
necessity in the traditional one-room school houses."
Some of the stated advantages of the small schools include the following:
1. Smallness provides a sense of belonging where each individual is
valued for his/her unique qualities. The personal nature of small
schools is often contrasted with the large bureaucratised school
where the individual is 'lost' in the crowd.
2. Small schools enable children in rural areas tq remain and enjoy
normal family life without being subjected to the undue pressures of
adjusting to a new environment if they were to board away from
home. (One of the areas of concern in Fijian education is the adverse
psychological effects on the students who move away from home to
stay with relatives or friends in the urban areas in order to attend
secondary schools. Lack of guidance and care, disruption in life-style
and a new environment have ruined the future of many youngsters.
See Halliday and O'Brien (1986)15 for the effects of transferring
children to a new school and environment.)
3. Small schools perforce have to resort to teaching-learning strategies
seen as pedagogically sound practices. These include cross-age peer
group help, and flexible approaches to instruction such as individual-
30
ised instruction, independent study, team-teaching and group
projects.
4. The flexible teaching approaches encourage resourcefulness, initiative
and independence in students and generally provide more oppor-
tunities to promote the skills and attitude of 'learning to learn'.
5. Small schools have to lay emphasis on the basics to give children an
adequate basis for independent study and cross-age tutoring.
6. The smallness facilitates teacher-student interaction and helps
develop positive personal relationships which in turn raise student
morale, self-esteem, etc.
7. Small schools are closer to the communities they serve and possess
greater potential for utilising the community as a resource.
8. Small schools find it easier to integrate mildly handicapped pupils
into the ordinary classroom.
One finds amusing parallels between the small rural schools of the South
Pacific region and the 'innovative schools' of developed countries in the
process of rediscovering such principles as individualised learning and
cross-age grouping, and the humanisation goal of education. Amusing
because while the teachers in our region, for example, have to teach
cross-age groups (in composite — or multi-class situations) by necessity,
their counterparts in the more advanced systems are resorting to it on
pedagogical grounds. Similarly, while teachers in the region bemoaned
teaching in 'see through' classrooms or in large halls, 'open-plan'
advocates in the United Kingdom were breaking down walls to open up
the 'box-like' classrooms in order to implement new ideas on teaching.
However, a realistic look at the issue of pedagogical advantages in the
region demands a closer examination of the constraints and challenges in
teaching in small schools.
Constraints and challenges
The potential worth of small rural schools in the region in serving the
aspirations of the community and the development goals of respective
governments depends heavily on the perceptions of the teachers and
education administrators. It is argued here that some of the issues
perceived by the teachers as constraints are perhaps due to the limitations
imposed by the systems and conventional teaching practices in the region.
A re-interpretation of these issues may help us to see them not as
31
constraints but as reasonable professional challenges to be faced by
teachers and administrators alike. The re-orientation is necessary not
only so that some of the perceived constraints may be accepted as normal
professional matters but also in order to explode the myth fairly widely
spread in the region that neither rural children nor their teachers can
achieve 'good' results in education.
Let me once again use a case study from Fiji. In a pilot study16 aimed
primarily at recording and analysing teachers' perceptions in curriculum
implementation in two rural primary schools, it was noted that the
constraints perceived by teachers were pedagogical, situational and
system-specific. In brief they were as follows:
Based on Based on
Teacher- Observation
Interview
Pedagogical
1.
Limited repertoire of teaching behaviours on the
part of teachers resulting in a greater emphasis
on teacher-centred training.
Difficulties in achieving the objectives set for
each lesson due to reduced instruction time.
Lack of suitable teaching-learning resources.
Ineffective 'occupation'activities for one class
while the teacher is busy with the other.
Situational
1. Disturbance to the class working on its own from
teaching activities in the other class. (The classes
with assigned occupational activities found to be
consistently paying attention to such attractions
as teacher-talk, humorous incidents and new
subject matter from the other class.)
2. Distractions from the neighbours, due to choral
work, loud reading, music lessons etc. as the
school buildings are not designed to contain such
noise.
3. Rural environment of pupils (physical and social)
does not provide adequate support to classroom
learning.
System-Specific
1. Recommended curriculum materials, teaching
32
strategies and timetables are generally meant for
straight-class teaching thus reducing the available
instruction time for each class in a composite set-
up to almost half. x x
2. Unsuitability of pupil textbooks for independent
study by children. x
3. Examination pressures force teachers to
concentrate on the examination classes, eg.
classes six and eight receive greater attention in
the five and six, and seven and eight composite
combinations. x x
It appears reasonable to assume that the features of the education system
and the cultural and historical background of schools will influence
greatly, if not actually determine, the teachers' perceptions of constraints
and challenges in a given situation.
The teachers in these two schools clearly recognised the fact that rural
schools were different in many respects from urban and semi-urban
schools. The difference, they pointed out, lay in the home backgrounds of
the children, the degree and the level of participation of parents in their
children's education, limited resources and the constraints of teaching
composite classes. The challenge perceived by teachers was achieving
better results in examinations — Intermediate Examination in the school
with classes 1-7 and the Eighth Year Examination in the school with
classes 1-8.
The two head teachers also acknowledged that their students were "well
behaved and very respectful" and discipline was not an issue in their
schools. The head teachers were grateful to the community and the
school management for providing whatever physical facilities they could.
They were also fairly certain that the community and the management
could not provide much more than they had provided already.
The teachers pointed out the absence of any 'academic tradition' in the
locality and took it on themselves to motivate students to succeed in
external examinations. (One head teacher commented that 'not a single
boy or girl from this locality has yet made it to a tertiary institution'.)
A major concern of these teachers was the effective implementation of the
existing curriculum in composite classes. Teachers generally adhere to the
suggestions or teaching materials, class organisation and teaching
33
methods given by the Curriculum Development Unit in Suva.
The suggested approach of alternating teaching with occupation activity
in a composite class situation obviously imposes a rigid pattern, and if
adhered to strictly, leaves little room for the normal development of a
lesson as seen by the teacher. However, even within the suggested
approach it is essential that:
(a) a useful independent activity can be arranged for a class while
the teacher is working with the other,
(b) the children on their own can pursue such an activity in-
dependently without much disturbance from the other class,
(c) there is at least a minimum supply of teaching-learning resources
which the teacher can draw upon in developing suitable activities
for a class, and
(d) that the initial preparation of teachers and subsequent inservice
programmes have provided the teacher with a repertoire of
professional skills to handle composite class teaching effectively.
The teachers pointed out that in following the suggested approach they
faced difficulties in achieving the set objectives for each lesson as the
teaching time was reduced by half. They perceived the reduced instruction
time as contributing to a gradual erosion of standards in their classes
making it increasingly difficult to cope with the prescribed curriculum as
children move up the class levels.
Reduced Instruction Time (RIT) as illustrated in
eight lessons observed
xxxxxxxxxx
= Teacher directly involved in teaching, guiding etc.
xxxxxxxxxx
///////////
Class occupied on independent activity.
///////////
FIRST
SECOND
THIRD
CLASS
10 mins
10 mins
10 mins
1
xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxx
Lesson 1 Hindi Oral
xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxx
2
/////////// //////
/////////// //////
34
3
Lesson 2 English Oral
4
3
Lesson 3 Mathematics
4
7
Lesson 4 Social Science
8
1
Lesson 5 Mathematics
2
Lesson 6 English Oral
3
Lesson 7 Social Studies
4
5
Lesson 8
English
Activities
6
7
It is rather unfortunate that the widespread use of the straight class
teaching approach geared towards teaching for examinations has dis-
couraged innovation in matters dealing with teaching in rural schools. In
comparison to straight class teaching composite class teaching has gained
almost general endorsement as being difficult and inevitably leading to
lower standards.
35
It is suggested that teachers' perceptions of constraints and challenges
need to be interpreted within the context of the main features of the
present education system. For example, when teachers in rural schools
perceive the reduced instruction time in composite classes as a constraint
in covering the required curriculum, they are implicitly accepting a
number of other things, such as the need to cover a prescribed curriculum
in totality step by step, the suggested approach to composite class
teaching alternating teacher instruction with independent activity,
expository teaching and so on. Similarly, when some teachers in rural
schools give almost 'ready-made' explanations of parental apathy and
lack of motivation in students towards external examinations one begins
to question such explanations and to wonder whether this is not a case of
stereotyping.
A fresh look at the common features of the system and primary
programmes may prove useful in widening our approach to teaching,
curriculum development and assessment procedures.
A 'challenge model' rather than 'deficit model' may help in this re-
orientation. Linda Dove17 (1982) uses the two models effectively in
discussing the deployment and training of teachers for remote rural
schools and argues that, "the rural deficit model tends to encourage the
use of compulsory posting and incentives while the rural challenge model
searches for better ways of preparing teachers for service in remote
schools." It is suggested here that teachers' perceptions of constraints, as
noted in the case of teachers in the two schools looked at in Fiji, tend to
highlight deficits in rural situations when compared with schools in and
around the urban centres. Unfortunately, too, the deficit model en-
courages stereotyping and biases in teachers' perceptions of issues
concerning rural teaching. The rural challenge model, on the other hand,
has the potential for questioning the assumptions underlying the current
policies and practice. By adopting a more positive model, it is likely that a
number of issues which we presently see as constraints can be viewed as
reasonable professional challenges in rural schools.
Pedagogical areas which may require immediate attention include
curriculum development, teacher education, advisory and support
services, and the assessment and reward procedures. For instance, the
possibility of freeing primary schools from external examinations and
encouraging varied teaching strategies which capitalize on the smallness
and close community relations must be explored. The centralized
36
curriculum development and advisory services to schools has definite
advantages. The curriculum developers, however, need to provide a more
integrated curriculum for rural schools better suited to varied teaching
methods than curriculum material strictly on 'subject' lines with pre-
determined time-allocations and the whole class teaching approach.
Teacher education and teaching-learning resources together could make
a lot of difference in the quality of education in rural schools. In small
systems of the region, a centralized approach, once again, for developing
and distributing essential educational resources would help reduce costs
and pool professional talents for the benefit of all schools. Teacher
education programmes both pre-service and in-service, equipping teachers
for rural schools with essential theoretical and practical skills and a deep
appreciation of constraints and challenges of teaching in rural schools
would indeed be most helpful.
Are small rural schools really costly?
It is true that small schools cost more to run in comparison with larger
schools if one looks at per capita costs. But is the worth of a small school
to be measured purely in monetary terms? This paper has taken the
position that small schools mean a great deal more to the communities
they serve, to governments anxious to provide reasonable equity in
education and in the benefits of development to all people, be they u r b a n
or rural dwellers. True, the smallness of rural schools does pose special
constraints if rigid pedagogical practices are applied. However, these
schools can obviously present us with professional challenges that are not
unreasonable. And seen in the context of societal aspirations and
development policies of the island nations of the S o u t h Pacific, the small
rural school is indeed an important institution.
Notes
1. Pervical R. Cole (1937) The Rural School in Australia. Australia: Melbourne
University Press.
2. A small school in Fiji is one with 10-170 children and has up to five teachers.
3. Development Plan Nine 1986-1990 (1985) Suva: Government Printer.
4. Report of the 1969 Fiji Education Commission, Education for Modern Fiji.
Suva: Government Printer.
37
5. Personal study of Nubu District School, Northern Division, Fiji.
6. Personal knowledge of Tagi Tagi Indian and Sangam Schools, Western
Division, Fiji.
7. Personal study of Kelikoso Primary School, Northern Division, Fiji.
8. Schools such as Gau Junior Secondary School, Lomaiviti Province, Eastern
Division, Fiji.
9. Schumacher, E.F. (1974) Small is Beautiful. Gr. Britain: Blond and Briggs
Ltd.
10. Low, Janet (1979) 'The Schools Everyone Loves.' NRTA JournalXXX, San
Diego.
11. Burgess, W.V. (1976) 'Nostalgia in the Bicentennial Year.' Today's Education
NEA, Washington, D.C.
12. Huber, J.D. (1975) 'Reincarnation of the One Room Schoolhouse.' The
Clearing House 49 (3), Washington DC.
13. Low, Janet, op cit.
14. Huber, J.D., op cit.
15. Halliday, Ian (1986) Secondary Education on the Island of Tiree, Scotland.
CPW/CS/3.
16. Personal research on curriculum implementation in two rural schools in Fiji,
under USP research grant.
17. Linda Dove (1972) 'The Development and Training of Teachers for Remote
Rural Schools in Less-Developed Countries.' International Review of
Education XXVIII.
38
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