This session explores the unique nature of teaching in rural settings and multi-composite classrooms. Drawing on insights from rural education researchers Anne Paterson OBE and Professor Morag Redford (UHI), the discussion highlights the importance of community and place, celebrates the strengths of rural schools, and considers current and future challenges in rural education.

This resource will be particularly useful for teachers engaging in practitioner enquiry in rural contexts, or for those interested in strengthening connections with their local communities.

A deep dive into school attainment in Scottish remote areas and the lower progression rates to higher education among young people living there. An illustration of the importance of this topic will be given by considering the Fair Access to HE policy implemented by the Scottish government since 2016 (Commission on Widening Access, 2016) and insights from Lasselle (forthcoming), Lasselle and Johnson (2021), and Scottish government (2021). This will allow discussion of why this contextualisation of academic performance in terms of learners’ location and schools’ socio-economic status is important for stakeholders in Scotland, in particular policymakers, HE institutions and communities.