How rural schools in Czechia respond to parental preferences: Different approaches to students’ well-being

Abstract

Czech parents place particular emphasis on ensuring the overall quality of life of their child when choosing a school. Our study shows how rural state schools understand this demand. A mixed approach was used in our research. In the first step, administrative data from all schools in municipalities with a population of up to 3,000 was used to shortlist 91 schools in demand by both catchment and non-catchment families. In the second step, socio-geographic data on type of municipality, online presentations, and other documents of the shortlisted schools were analysed. In the last step, case studies of 13 schools were prepared on the basis of parent surveys and interviews with stakeholders. We present case studies of three schools with different explicitly expressed approaches to satisfying parental preferences through a specific mix of care for well-being and valued characteristics of the rural environment. Our study adds to the existing literature on school choice and school leadership by describing specific developmental and/or marketing strategies of rural schools based on the real or perceived characteristics of the countryside.

Attractive Rural Schools in Czechia

“…In this study, we also do not deal with successful schools with a high share of the local student population, where the presence of out-of-catchment-area children is sometimes more likely to be due to push factors (dysfunctional schools in nearby municipalities), structural factors (geography), or just serendipity. For the prototypical magnet and community schools, a detailed analysis has been provided elsewhere, as described by Svoboda et al (2022).…”

“…Also, such schools act within social patterns typical of a rural way of life-for example with close relationships and informal social control (Gristy et al, 2020). Svoboda et al (2022) described how Czech rural schools use such perceived advantages of rural areas to retain and acquire students. Kučerová et al (2015) studied the impact of the marketisation of education on rural communities.…”

“…A relatively dense network of (small) municipalities, many of which maintain their own primary and often also lower (junior) secondary schools, provides for educational options in some rural parts of Czechia. Czech parents primarily choose schools that, in their opinion, can ensure the well-being of their children (Svoboda et al, 2022), a kind environment and friendly teachers or the teachers' willingness and ability to consider students' individual needs are most appreciated (Simonová, 2017). The unavailability of standardised data on the academic performance of schools in Czechia may play a role in the preference for 'soft' characteristics, too, as there is extensive evidence from other educational systems (including large-scale field experiments) that the availability of academic performance data leads families to prefer higher achieving schools (e.g.…”

“…As the quantitative data shows, it has by far the highest proportion of out-of-catchment-area students among the case schools, but at the same time, many local families enrol their children in other schools. However, the resulting numerical balance is still favourable from the point of view of the Mayor, as the absolute number of out-ofcatchment-area students is higher than the number of outgoing locals, and the school is economically sustainable (for more details, see Svoboda et al, 2022).…”

Development of the basic school network in Czechia in the last three decades: Changes and current challenges

“…Those schools that are successful in their strategies and demand then transform the local educational landscape from the bottom-up, e.g. in directions of stu-dentsʼ commutation flows (see e. g. Svoboda et al 2022).…”