Rescuing a small village school in the context of rural change in Hungary

The paper discusses local responses to schooling policy in the context of the uneven differentiation and sharp social polarisation of the Hungarian countryside. Counter-urbanisation, on the one hand, has brought affluent urban middle classes to suburban spaces, on the other hand, peripheral areas are becoming impoverished with high unemployment, while there are rural areas where a process of ghettoisation is taking place. Parallel with these processes, rural education has had to face demographic decline and the shrinking ability of municipalities to maintain schools. The case study presented in this article illustrates the cultural and spatial barriers impeding the creation of co-operation in the field of education. Given that the community of the village concerned is remarkably vibrant, with strong intra-community horizontal ties, the concept of social capital is used to explain how bonding and bridging networks as well as “missing links” influence community actions, in this case a school-rescue operation. ► Rural change has been taking place unevenly since the fall of Socialism. ► Small scale rural municipalities in Hungary are facing grave financial difficulties. ► Pressed amalgamations/closures between 2004 and 2008 halved the numbers of independently run units. ► Parental choices and community actions might resist state policies. ► Inter-community and external networks and social capital generated by them determine the achievements of community action.